Coimhthíoch
by MiniKoontzy
Summary: A strange girl is on the run from even stranger pursuers. Who are they and what do they want with her? More importantly, why do they want her? WARNING: Will contain eventual torture Transformers: Prime belongs to Hasbro Adaryn and RaulSeyr belong to me
1. Chapter 1

**Coimhthíoch**

Chapter 1

Light feet pounded on the wet pavement, their owner panting from exhaustion. Blood trickled from numerous cuts and scratches covering her legs and arms. How much longer could she keep running? She was cold and wet and hungry and her legs wobbled underneath her, threatening to give out at any second. Hoarse shouting echoed from behind and the teen girl whimpered. A trio of men in black armor rounded the corner, their bodies surrounded in swirling black shadows and their eyes hollow and devoid of life. Who were they? Why wouldn't they leave her alone?

"Aw, why you runnin', girlie?" One of the men taunted. "We just wanna have a lil' fun with cha!"

"Yeah! We just wanna see what cha taste like!" A second added in, licking his lips.

Her pace quickened and she pulled the hoodie up over her head to keep the persistent drizzle from impairing her vision. She darted down an alley to her right between two houses and huddled behind a stack of rotting cardboard boxes. She pulled the hooded trench coat closer to keep warm and closed her eyes to steady her ragged breathing. The cold night air caused her breath to turn to small puffs of steam. Footsteps shuffled and angry whispers were heard as her pursuers tried to relocate her.

"She's close. I can smell 'er." The lead man snarled. He sniffed in the cold air, letting specialized scent organs filter out non-important smells. He grinned wolfishly, revealed extremely elongated canine teeth that flashed in the dim light of the moon. His hollow eyes flicked over to the stack of boxes. _There._ _That's where she's hiding._ He motioned for his two friends to circle around and cut off the other end of the alley. The two dissolved into shadows and slinked off to take their positions.

"Come on, girlie. We don't wanna hurt ya." He crooned. "Why don't ya come on out where we – I mean _I_ – can see ya. It's just me. My friends gave up." He lied.

"_Ní chreidim thú!_" The girl hissed from her hiding place. "Do you honestly expect me to believe that? Do you think me an _óinseach_?" She spat the last word out with pure venom in her voice.

"Then we'll do this the hard way, lassie. Get her!" He barked. The thick shadows at the other end of the alley reformed into men and charged her. There was a flash of sudden, blinding flash of light and the three shadow men reeled back screaming as their eyes burned from the attack. While the three shadow men recovered the girl took off running again, pelting out into the open street.

Houses ran up and down the street. Most of them had their lights off for the night but every now and again there would be one that still had lights on inside. Those houses were her best bet for sanctuary. Hopefully the monsters that were chasing her wouldn't try and break in to get at her. Deciding on one, a rather plain looking one story house with a run-of-the-mill design, she stumbled up to the front door and banged repeatedly on the door, screaming "Help me! Please! You have to let me in!"

The shadow men drew ever closer. They purposely avoided walking into the yellow light of the street lamps, electing instead to skirt around in the darker areas to try and conceal themselves. The door opened finally, warm gold light spilling out onto the porch. A young man stood on the threshold, his black hair ruffled and his dark brown eyes drooping from having just woken up. As soon as he focused on her the eyes widened in shock and she promptly collapsed forward. The young man grabbed her before she could hit the ground and tried to steady her. As he repositioned his hands to allow her to lean on him he noticed they were now covered in blood.

"Oh my God, you're hurt." He gasped. "Come on; let's get you into the living room so you can lie down." The girl hardly seemed to hear him and allowed herself to be led into the living room and positioned on the couch. The helpful stranger then made a mad dash for some other room in the house, careening into walls in his haste. She heard him shout, "MOM!" at the top of his voice. The young man soon reappeared leading a middle-aged woman by the hand.

"Jack? What on Earth is going –?" Her confused gaze turned to controlled horror as she spotted the girl on the couch and noticed the young man's – evidently named "Jack" – blood stained hands. "Jack, go grab by first aid kit and a wet towel, quickly." Jack rushed off to find the desired items and ran back in holding a red and white box and a dark green towel which he handed to the older woman. The woman rummaged around in the kit before pulling out a roll of gauze bandages and a tube of antibiotic ointment.

"I'm just going to clean your injuries first, alright? It might sting a bit." The woman murmured reassuringly and started to tab the wet towel over the cuts and scratches on her legs. The girl's eyes were struggling to stay open, showing how exhausted she was, but she winced and recoiled slightly at the stinging of the cold water seeping into the wounds. Jack fidgeted from foot to foot ready to make another run to grab more supplies. The woman began unfurling the gauze bandages, squirting the ointment onto them, and gently wrapped them around the deeper injuries to help stem the blood flow.

"Honey, help me roll up her sleeves so I can treat those cuts, too." The woman instructed Jack. He nodded in rapid assent and slowly rolled up the sleeves of the trench coat. The cuts and scratches weren't as numerous on her arms but something else was.

Intricate markings spiraled up her the girl's arms and strange symbols interconnected the markings. Not wanting to interrogate the poor girl the two didn't ask what they were. They faintly recognized the markings as Celtic knots; the symbols they couldn't identify. The girl stopped trying to resist the urge to pass out and quickly slipped into unconsciousness as the woman finished binding her injuries. The woman, rather than head back to her own bed to sleep, reclined in a chair near the couch and waved Jack back to his own room. She would stand watch during the night to ensure the girl's safety.

All through the night the girl tossed and turned in her sleep. She was currently whimpering pitifully and hunched into a tight ball, shivering. It could've been from fear, it could've been from a fever, or it might have been a little of both. The woman, June, single mother and hospital nurse, silently got up and got a blanket out of the hall closet and draped it over the shivering girl. The shivering became less severe but was still there. Whatever had attacked the girl had scared her near senseless and her being out in the cold rain hadn't helped one bit. With a high pitched screech of terror the girl sat bolt upright, her dark blue eyes wide with fear and her entire body trembling. June instantly rushed over and took measures to calm her down; she couldn't allow the girl to go into shock.

"Shhh, it's alright, sweetie. You're safe here. No one is going to hurt you. Try to relax." June murmured. The girl blinked at here as though she couldn't understand a word she was saying. "What's your name?"

"A-Adaryn." The girl stuttered in a charming Scottish accent.

"Okay then, Adaryn. You're in my house and _no one_ is going to hurt you under my watch." June smiled. Adaryn looked at her with skepticism. The trembling slowly died down at the simple questions and Adaryn's eyes drooped as the adrenaline rush wore off. She quickly passed out again. June noted with relief that the shivering had completely stopped and sat back down in her chair. Adaryn slept soundly through the remainder of the night without incident.

OoooooooooooooooooooooooooooOoooooooooooooooo

The light was what woke her up first. Faint morning light filtered in through a large set of windows and landed right on her eyes, making Adaryn squint in annoyance. For a brief second, she forgot where she was or what she was doing in some random person's home. Then everything came back – the running, the three freaky shadow people, the cuts and scratches she's gotten, the raw terror she's felt at the time….She glanced around to try and find the two helpful people who had given her shelter for the night. The woman was fast asleep in a chair a few feet away and the young man hadn't come out of his room yet. Deciding it was better not to wake them (yet), Adaryn stumbled into the kitchen. She hadn't had a substantial meal for nearly four days and she was famished. Finding a package of ham, a bottle of water, a yogurt, and an apple, Adaryn settled down and began eating – slowly so as not to make herself sick.

_Scritch, scratch, scratch, thud. Scritch, scratch, scratch, thud. _Something was clawing and hitting at the front door persistently. Fearing the shadow men had come back, Adaryn approached cautiously and braced for an attack. It never came. Instead of the trio of shadow men a tiny winged reptile with midnight blue scales and bright copper markings stood on the porch, its electric blue eyes set to portray worry. The reptile gave a happy chirrup noise and pranced around Adaryn's feet.

"RaulSeyr! Where've you been you little nuisance?" She stroked the little reptile's head fondly. The little reptile gave another happy chirp and snuggled into her chest. Adaryn's gaze clouded over. "You weren't followed, were you?" She asked. The reptile shook its head firmly. A startled exclamation came from behind the two drew their attention.

Jack stood in his pajamas staring at the creature the girl held in her arms. "Is that…? Is that a baby dragon?" He stammered. The woman stirred at the sudden commotion a few feet away from her chair looked around until she found the source.

"RaulSeyr is a Wyrm, kind stranger. There's a big difference." Adaryn laughed. The Wyrm tilted its head in Jack's direction and chirped a few times making Jack step back. She smiled, "It's alright, she doesn't bite. She may nip but she'd never actually hurt you.", thus emboldening Jack to approach and lay a tentative hand on RaulSeyr's feathered head. The tiny Wyrm purred and leaned into the touch happily.

"She's acting like a tiny winged cat." Jack said. "Mom, look!" He added. The woman got up and walked over while blinking the sleep out of her eyes. She didn't seem as alarmed to see RaulSeyr as Jack had been but she still looked a bit startled to see her son and the new girl interacting with the little Wyrm without the slightest hint of fear.

"Jack…?" The woman prompted.

"It's okay Mom. I think this is her pet." Jack reassured. "'RaulSeyr', right?"

"Correct, kind stranger. You catch on to names quickly, though 'companion' would be a better term for her, not pet." Adaryn smiled.

"Well, now that you're awake, you probably want something to eat." June guessed smartly.

Adaryn rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "Ah, I kind of already got something. Sorry for not asking first." She apologized, refusing to make eye contact with the woman.

"No, no it's alright. From what I managed to piece together last night you haven't had a good night's sleep or a proper meal for at least four says." The woman replied. "By the way, who or what was after you that made you come here? And why were they after you?"

For the first time Adaryn didn't answer right away. "I-I do not know who or what they were," She finally said. "But they most defiantly _weren't _human. At least by standard definition." The mother and son stared at her as though not quite believing what she'd just said.

"What do you mean by that?" Jack asked.

"I mean just what I said. At first glance their shape appears human enough, but they didn't look alive. Their eyes were hollow and their skin was very pale and they were cloaked in shadows."

"Wait, are you saying you were being chased by _vampires_?" The mother demanded. "Vampires don't exist; they're just what people made up back in day when they didn't understand what rabies was."

The girl shook her head, "I know that it sounds absurd but it's true. I do not know what they wanted with me either." She said truthfully. "But I need to leave now. I cannot stay in one place for long." Adaryn got back up and headed for the front door. The woman got ahead of her and blocked the door.

"You aren't going anywhere just yet, Adaryn. You're hurt, you're malnourished – possibly dehydrated – and suffering from physical exhaustion." The girl opened her mouth as though to protest but the mother cut her off and glared, "Don't argue with me. I'm a hospital nurse."

"Yeah and besides, the people chasing you haven't busted down the door yet. You're probably safer here than out there in the open." Jack stated. Seeing that it was no use Adaryn's shoulders sagged in defeat and she allowed herself to be led back to the couch.

OoooooooooooooooooOoooooooooooo

Outside in the shadows of an abandoned house, the three shadow men argued with each other.

"How come we can't get in?!" One cried.

The lead shadow man socked him in the jaw before answering: "Because the dwelling is sanctified, Reon'za. That's why you bumbling idiot." He snarled. "Didn't you listen to the debriefing?!"

"Well what're we supposed to do now, Milron?" The third shadow man demanded. "Just wait for the girl to come back out again?"

The lead shadow man, Milron, smirked cruelly. "Precisely, Galeth. We wait. And as Shades, we will wait as long as we have to."

Reon'za and Galeth cackled maliciously in response.


	2. Chapter 2

Coimhthíoch

Chapter 2

After being led back to the couch the girl laid down and closed her eyes, quickly dropping off to sleep again. Jack and his mother were still puzzled about the strange tattoos on her arms and the "vampires" who were after her. Though to be a little more truthful, June was more interested in where the girl received her numerous cuts and lacerations; they didn't appear to have been inflicted by humans or human lookalikes; the injuries looked more like an army of angry rodents had attacked her and looked more like claw or talon marks than anything. A few of them looked superficial enough to have been caused simply by her no doubt sleeping in the open at night, or possibly in trees. Her less severe injuries were healing remarkably fast. June gave her maybe three or four days to fully heal if nothing happened to worsen her condition.

OooooooooooooooooooooooOoooooooooooo

Just as June had predicted, Adaryn's injuries were almost fully healed by the fourth day. Where the deeper injuries had been there were light scars and where the less severe injuries had been there was no trace of them. She also proved to be very intelligent and could hold a conversation over any science related topic for a considerable time frame. If she were ever introduced to Raf they would get along perfectly as each were scientific minded.

On the fifth morning June thought of something. A way to keep the girl safe while she and her son weren't at home.

"Adaryn?" June asked.

The girl looked up from the book she currently engrossed in. "Yes, ma'am?"

"I've been thinking. You've been staying here to avoid being pursued again, correct?"

Adaryn nodded. "Yes, ma'am. The shadow men can't seem to enter the house for some reason."

"Yes. You must have noticed that Jack and I aren't always here though and I don't feel that leaving you here unsupervised is the right decision."

"Uh-huh. You guys are gone for about eight hours a day." She noted.

"Exactly, and RaulSeyr can't protect you from three strange shadow men alone. So I think enrolling you in the local high school will keep you just as safe as the house does. Your pursuers wouldn't dare attack you again when there are over four hundred witnesses in total and at least eighteen per class." June explained.

The girl's eyes brightened. "I think you're right! The shadow men never once attacked me in urban areas where there might be witnesses. They always waited till I was out of city limits."

June smiled. "So I take that it that you're alright with me enrolling you?"

"Of course. Thank you, ma'am." Adaryn grinned up at her.

OooooooooooooooooooooooooOooooooooooooo

The very next day Adaryn sprinted up the steps two at a time, a small back pack slung over her shoulders by a single strap. She still had her hooded trench coat on to cover her arm tattoos since they weren't in school dress code and her shirt and ripped jeans had been cleaned the night before. Everyone around her was too focused socializing or trying to get to their first class to really notice her. She continued inside through the doors and eagerly glanced around. Her first period was U.S History according to the schedule she clutched in her hand. It was on the other end of the building if her remembrance of the school layout was accurate. When she passed a row of red lockers she saw something that made her blood boil in anger.

A red-headed, gangly-looking teenage boy was holding a pair of red glasses well out of reach of another, smaller and younger teen, to whom which the glasses clearly belonged.

"What's the matter Raf? Can't see without these?" The red-haired teen sneered.

"Give them back, Vince!" The smaller teen pleaded pathetically.

"Oh come on. You can reach them if you try hard enough." The red-haired teen, Vince, teased. Suddenly Vince felt himself slammed against the lockers behind him and a small, slender arm was barred across his neck to prevent him from struggling free. The bully blinked the stars out of his eyes and saw who had attacked him. A girl with bleach white hair with a single streak of cobalt in it was glaring at him in pure hate.

"I'd advise giving the lad his glasses back." She growled. "Unless you fancy getting taken down by a girl."

Vince snorted. "Psh. I'd like to see you try." The wind was knocked out of him as the girl solidly punched him in the gut and he was tossed forward effortlessly to floor. "Oh you wanna go princess?!" He snarled as he struggled back to his feet. The girl smirked in response and placed a hand on her hip.

A small crowd had gathered to see what the fuss was about. They waited around eagerly to see what would happen next.

"Come on, Vince. Too scared to get beat up by a _girl_ in front of a _crowd_?" Adaryn taunted. "Or are you really a big pansy inside?"

Vince growled and rushed her. Adaryn easily sidestepped and shoved him forward, making the bully stumble and nearly fall. He caught himself and charged again and the girl sidestepped a second time. Rather than shove him like before, she caught him and slammed him against the lockers one more time for good measure.

"Give the lad his glasses back and I promise not to beat you up too badly." She hissed. "Or kick you in your soft spot and make you squeal like the little rat you are."

"Make me, princess." Vince said. A sound swing of the girl's hand and the bully crumpled to the floor in a dazed heap. She yanked the red glasses out of his hands and gave them back to their owner.

"Here ya go, lad." She said in a friendly manner. "If he does that again I'll make good on my promise to make him squeal."

"T-thanks!" The young teen put the glasses back on and scurried off. He stopped and turned back. "What's your name?" He shouted from halfway down the hall.

"Adaryn!" She answered. "Weird name I know but I'm Scottish!" Satisfied with her work she continued on to her class humming an old Celtic tune.

OoooooooooooooooooooOoooooooooooooooo

Adaryn drummed her pencil against her desk in boredom. She was the first one done with the test and had nothing better to do than sit there until the class was released. The fact that there had been a test on her first day irked her but it had been rather simple. She scratched at her back in irritation; ever since her fight there had been a constant itch as though a rash had formed. She dismissed it as some kind of allergic reaction to some pollen or other in the air. _Probably nothing _ Adaryn mentally decided. She leaned back in her chair to relax and ended up yelping in pain and making everyone in the class look at her funny.

"Sorry. Just uh…nothing. I'm fine." She squeaked. The class stared for a moment longer before returning back to whatever they had been doing. When the bell rang she practically flew out of the doorway and down the hall. She nearly cannoned into Jack on her way to the next class and offered a fluent "Sorry! My bad!"

OoooooooooooooooooooooooOoooooooooooooooo

The rest of the day went by with nothing out of the ordinary happening. The itching had stopped thankfully but the tenderness was still and it had prevented her from fully focusing in her other classes. Not that that was really an issue. She'd gotten the gist of each lesson – that was the important part. She was good at piecing together intellectual puzzles; it was almost a kind of game for her.

So Adaryn followed the mass of teenagers out of the double doors at the end of the school day, careful not to bump into anyone or let anyone bump into her. June had her shift at the hospital and Jack had his job right after school hours so she would have to look for a ride.

"Hey! You're the new girl, right?!" A cheerful voice from behind her demanded. Adaryn turned and saw a spunky Asian girl with black hair – with a few pink streaks in it – staring hard at her with a huge grin plastered on her face.

"Um, yeah? Why?" She asked warily.

"You're the girl who beat the scrap outta Vince, right? When he took Raf's glasses?"

"I was defending the lad." Adaryn shot back. "Plus, I hate bullies. 'Specially sexist ones that think girls are weak."

"Whoa, I'm not accusing you. In fact –" The Asian leaned forward confidentially, "A lot of the kids have given you a nickname for doing that. They've started calling you 'Adder'."

Adaryn grinned back. "What like the snake?"

"Yup! Oh, and I'm Miko by the way." The Asian introduced herself. A large, dark green off-roading vehicle pulled up and Miko jogged right for it. "I don't see your ride, Adder. You need a lift?" She asked.

"I'd appreciate a lift back home, Miko. Thank you." Adaryn said. "I'm staying with the Darby's."

She followed Miko and hopped into the back seat of the vehicle and the Asian jumped into the passenger seat. A heavy-set man in a dark green shirt sat at the wheel.

"Miko? Who's this?" The man asked.

"Oh! This is Adaryn, Bulk. She's a friend. She totally beat the scrap out of Vince! It was so cool!" Miko beamed happily at the driver. The new girl shifted awkwardly at the praise and lowered her head modestly.

"It was nothing. I was just standin' up for the little mite. Vince needs to learn to pick on people his own size." She said.

"Well I say Vince had it coming. I don't like bullies either." The driver spoke and then started the engine up. Adaryn leaned back in the seat lightly and winced at the pain that shot up her back. The driver somehow noticed even though he was looking straight ahead at the road. "You okay?"

"Yeah," She winced again, "My back's just real sore for some reason. It's no biggie really. I've suffered through worse." The last part was truer than the driver and Miko would realize.

"You're staying with Jack and his mom. They'll make sure you're fine!" Miko chirped. Adaryn hummed in thought and didn't answer. She remained quiet until the Asian and the friendly driver dropped her off at the Darby's house.

"Thanks for the lift, Miko!" She said with a wave and walked inside. "I owe you one!"

"No prob, Adder!" Miko shouted back as the vehicle pulled away from the curb and sped off. Adaryn rummaged in her pocket for the spare key the mother had given her and fitted into the lock on the door. She quietly slipped inside. RaulSeyr was curled up fast asleep on the couch. The little Wyrm heard her come in and opened its bright blue eyes and blinked a few times at her, offering a smooth purr in greeting.

"Hey there, girl." She stroked the Wrym's head fondly, earning an even louder purr. The little schoolwork she'd gotten she'd finished in class so that left her free to roam the house or read. Since she might be staying here indefinitely, why not get a better look at the house? The one place she hadn't been was the garage and she didn't exactly want to explore Jack or his mother's room; that might be considered a breach of privacy and she respected other's privacy.

"Seyr, you wanna come check out the garage with me?" She asked. The Wyrm chirped and jumped off the couch. "I'll take that as a yes. Come on."

OoooooooooooooooooOoooooooooooo

The garage itself was organized as a garage typically should be. There was a cluttered worktable in one corner, a couple of drawers for tools, and a ten-speed bicycle in another corner. What really interested her was the gleaming blue Suzuki motorcycle with pink highlights sitting smack in the center of the garage with its kickstand down.

"I wonder who you belong to." Adaryn wondered aloud. "Jack's mom doesn't really strike me as the motorcycle type. You must be Jack's." She continued to circle the motorcycle, muttering her thoughts as she did. "Why would a guy put pink highlights on his bike though? Wonder if he gets teased about that…."

RaulSeyr slinked circles around the motorcycle and occasionally snuffed at it in interest. The little reptile was quite intelligent and knew a thing or two about human vehicles – especially how they should smell. This bike didn't have a hint of gasoline scent on it. What powered it then? Even diesel should've been detectable and yet the bike didn't have any kind of fuel smell in its tanks. She continued sniffing and became even more puzzled. The bike smelled of desert sand, like the kind found around this town; there was a trace of evergreen scent, hinting that it had been up north, maybe around Oregon or Washington; she even picked up the smell of the Arctic; all of this was the accumulation of only a few weeks. This bike had been in every biome on Earth in the time it would take to travel between each one on a high speed jet. But how was that even possible?! Her human friend seemed to pick up on her confused agitation and asked what was wrong. The little reptile let out a string of chirps, growls and squeaks in response. It took the human a few minutes to translate but she finally got the message.

Adaryn frowned, "Huh, that _is_ weird, Seyr. Think we should ask Jack when he gets back from his job?" The little winged reptile bobbed her head in agreement. The two walked back out of the garage and back into the house, leaving the motorcycle exactly where it was.

OooooooooooooooooooOoooooooooooooo

If Adaryn and RaulSeyr had been confused, then Arcee was bewildered. Jack had said he and his mom were caring for a wounded girl who had showed up on their porch one night covered in lacerations, but the femme bot had never actually laid optics on the girl until she'd come into the garage. White hair typically signified age in organics but the girl barely looked older than Jack – maybe she'd dyed it or maybe it was because of genetics. Raf had told them about a gene in a lot of animals that caused "albinism", meaning their hair or fur turned white and their eyes sometimes turned red as well. The girl didn't have red eyes so she guessed the girl had simply dyed it. Her accent defiantly wasn't American and her clothing style was unusual, too, though not unattractive. The little reptile puzzled her even further; it didn't match the description of any Earth reptile and it also appeared very intelligent. The only description that matched the little critter was something Miko had told them about one time: A dragon. But dragons didn't exist – they were the invention of human imagination combined with early human civilizations finding dinosaur fossils. Also according to Miko, dragons were supposed to be large and often times ill-tempered. The one that followed the girl around was about the size of the average house cat - if not a little larger - and appeared quite friendly. Did that mean dragons really did exist? If that were indeed the case, why was this one so small and amiable? Furthermore, how could the girl understand it?

OoooooooooooooooooooooOoooooooooooooooooooo

The three shadow men continued to haunt the house after dark. They'd been waiting for nearly a week and there hadn't been a good occasion to jump the girl in that time span. They were getting restless fast.

"How much longer are we supposed to wait, Milron?" Galeth hissed. "The local wildlife can keep us sustained indefinitely, I know, but the girl's blood would keep up content forever."

"That is why the longer we wait the more delicious it will be when the time comes." Milron replied coldly.

"I can almost taste it now…." Reon'za said dreamily. The hollow eyes flicked to see a desert hare spring by. A hand shot out and the hare squealed in protest as the Shade drained it dry of blood before tossing the lifeless corpse aside. "Can we go after a human now, boss? Please? These things barely have enough life blood to keep a vampire fledgling full!"

Milron rubbed his chin. "For once you may have a point, Reon'za. But we must find a house that isn't sanctified." He drew in a few deep breaths before speaking again. "There is one that is a short distance away. We will feed there."

The three Shades dissolved into shadows and sped down the street to the house that Milron had identified. The house was unprotected and the three beings slipped inside the darkened house. They licked their lips and searched the house for a victim. They found the first human asleep in his bed.

"Remember, I'm the leader. I get the first meal." Milron hissed quietly. He assured himself the man was asleep and then sank his fangs into his neck and drank in, relishing the rich taste it had. The man protested in his sleep slightly but he didn't wake and Milron continued to drink. Once he was satisfied he pulled back and he and his followers continued through the house. There were two other humans – probably the wife and daughter – and Reon'za and Galeth each took them. When the Shades had finished eating they slipped back out of the house and re-took their posts at the house the girl was staying in.

Soon…..

**Uh oh….These guys are gettin' impatient….**


	3. Chapter 3

Coimhthíoch

Chapter 3

Adaryn strolled back into the main house and glanced around for some kind of clue that would explain RaulSeyr's peculiar observation about the blue motorcycle. Unless the Darby family had access to some kind of teleportation device there was no accounting for the trace scents of all those different biomes. She dismissed the notion of the little Wyrm having made a mistake; RaulSeyr didn't make mistakes when it came to scents. Her nose put even the best blood hound to shame. Until Jack returned from his job the answer to that question would have to wait. She glanced up at the clock and saw it was a quarter to five. Five o'clock was when Jack's shift ended and it normally took him about five or ten minutes to get back. So Adaryn patiently waited for the minute hand to tick past the 5:50 mark and for the tell-tale click that meant a key was being put into a lock.

At 5:55 exactly the sound of the garage door creaking open forced her to put down the book she was reading. She jogged over to the door that lead into the garage and flung it open to let Jack in. He looked tired and dark circles were visible under his eyes. Having school and a part-time job really took its toll.

"Good shift?" She asked.

"The usual. Nothing really worth telling you about." Jack yawned. "I heard you got into a fight with Vince before first period though."

Her face flushed in embarrassment, "I was just defending a kid from a bully." She protested. "Now Vince knows not to mess with me or Raf."

Jack accidently bumped into her from behind and she let out another yelp of pain. The teen raised an eyebrow in inquiry. "Did Vince hurt you there during the fight?"

She shook her head. "No, but ever since then my back has been extremely sore and tender. I couldn't even lean back in class or lean back in the seat of Miko's truck it hurts that bad."

Jack hummed in thought for a moment before speaking again. "I may not be a doctor but maybe I can see what's causing it. If it's alright with you, that is." He added quickly. Adaryn sighed in defeat and slipped off the trench coat to allow Jack to prod and see where the soreness was coming from. Each time he poked a section of her back she bit her lip and cringed at the pain that laced up her spine. It hurt even worse than before.

"Ah…you wouldn't mind removing the shirt?" Adaryn glared at him and frowned. "Never mind then. I'll let my mom see to that part when she gets back from her shift at the hospital. It _could_ just be sore muscles but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Just try not to lean back until then and maybe take an Advil for it or something."

"You're pretty medically minded, Jack. I'll trust your judgment on the pain killers." She said and walked into the kitchen to grab the required pain pills. She untwisted the lid, grabbed a single pill, and popped it into her mouth. Hopefully this would lessen the pain until Jack's mom returned and gave her professional opinion.

"Seeing as I'm done with my homework, do you need some assistance on yours?" She asked.

"Might as well. How good are you at Physics?"

"I'm not a theoretical physicist but I know enough to get you started."

OooooooooooooooooooooooooooOooooooooooooooooooooooo

Adaryn sat at the coffee table with Jack and walked him through each and every problem. RaulSeyr was curled up on the couch and observing them quietly. Personally, Jack thought her to be a good teacher; if a problem appeared hard she would simplify it and break it down into manageable chunks. If she were old enough for a degree she defiantly would get one. Why would anyone want to hurt someone so naturally helpful? It didn't make any sense to him. He sighed and put down the pencil when the work was complete and glanced at the clock. 7:00 o' clock – his mom would be back any minute.

"Thanks for the help, Adaryn." He said.

She smiled, "No problem!" and trotted off to find a quiet corner to read in. He shook his head. It just didn't make sense. Jack stopped mid thought when the door unlocked and opened and his mom stepped in, still attired in her blue nurse's scrubs.

"Adaryn! My mom's back!" He called through the house. Pounding feet met his ears and the white-haired girl sped in with the book she'd been reading still clasped in her hand. Jack turned back to his mother.

"Mom, something's wrong with Adaryn." He began. "She got into a fight with Vince at school and ever since then her back has been extremely sore and sensitive. Can you see what the problem is, please?"

"Of course, Jack. Adaryn, follow me." June waved the girl to follow her into the study. She led the girl into the room and closed the door behind her.

"Now, shirt off. Let me see what the issue is." The nurse ordered. Adaryn complied without hesitation and pulled the shirt off. Almost immediately the soreness stopped and relief flooded her senses. The nurse walked around behind her and one of her hands flew to her mouth in astonishment.

"Adaryn…" June said slowly. "I think I know what's causing the soreness. You have bird wings on your back."

"Wait, what?!" The girl glanced behind to see if the nurse was joking with her. She wasn't. Grafted to her back were two large tawny brown wings, each of them about five or six feet in length. Adaryn gave a cry of alarm and shrank back against the far wall, trembling. June whipped out her cell phone and began searching her contacts for the number she was looking for.

"Doctor? I need a 'bridge to the base. Now." Silence as she listened to the other end of the line. "No, I know that, but it's urgent…..You need to see this to believe it…..Thank you, see you in a few minutes." She hung up and ended the call. Adaryn was still hunched up in a tight ball against the wall and still trembling.

"What – what am I?" She whispered. "Some kind of mutant freak?"

June knelt down and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Look, I don't know the answer to the first one, but I _know_ you are _not_ a freak." The frightened girl looked up at her and the fear abated somewhat. June hurried out of the room and called for Jack to get either a pair of scissors or a small, sharp knife. The teen returned in moments with a pair of sewing scissors and handed them to his mother before retreating again. June returned to Adaryn's side and asked to see the back of her shirt. The nurse worked quickly, cutting open two large holes in the back of the shirt to allow the wings to fit more comfortably, and then handed it back to her and told her to put it on. The girl put it back on without any argument and tested if the incisions width were enough to allow the wings to fit through. The new appendages easily fit through the holes. Satisfied, June led the girl out of the room and motioned for both Jack and RaulSeyr to follow them into the garage, but not before giving Adaryn her trench coat back.

The weird motorcycle had its kickstand up and the engine idling with no one in the seat. Without the least warning, a swirling vortex of green light roared into existence in front of them. Jack, his mom, and the weird motorcycle went through it and disappeared. Jack's head popped out of the green vortex and waved for the two to follow. Adaryn gave him a skeptical look before following him with RaulSeyr at her heels. Whatever the vortex was made the hair on the back of her neck stand up and her bones vibrate. It lasted only for a few seconds before she stepped out into an entirely different place.

The place was massive in size. Bright industrial lights blazed from the high, rocky ceiling, and catwalks circled around a large central area. Corridors headed off in half a dozen directions. The motorcycle suddenly changed and shifted into a giant dark blue robot with shining blue eyes and a distinctly feminine body shape. Adaryn noticed a second robot in the room, a predominately white one with orange markings on its body and arms. Out of instinct she backed up and ended up backing into the leg of the blue and pink female robot. The white and orange one finished whatever it had been doing and turned around, confusion evident in its bright blue eyes.

"What exactly do I have to see to believe, Nurse Darby?" It asked. "And what was the urgent call and groundbridge about?"

"Call everyone else in and I'll show you." The nurse said. The robot raised a hand to the side of its head and relayed the request. Adaryn fidgeted nervously and nearly had a panic attack on seeing two more giant robots stomp in – a smallish yellow and black one and a bulky dark green one.

"Where's Optimus?" Jack demanded.

"Coming. He's father back in the silo." The orange and white one answered curtly. "Please begin."

"Now, the reason for the call and groundbridge: Adaryn arrived at our front door step nearly dead from exhaustion and covered in cuts and lacerations. She told us that three strange men were after her but that they couldn't enter the house for reasons unknown." June began. "She recovered quickly enough and I enrolled her in the high school. According to Jack, Adaryn got into a, ah, fight with Vince, and won. Afterwards her back was sore and extremely tender. He believed it to be simply sore muscles. I examined her and found what the cause really was." She glanced over at the frightened girl next to Arcee. "Adaryn, show them."

The girl firmly shook her head and darted behind Arcee's leg to hide. "Adaryn." June prompted again. The girl continued to hide and absolutely refused to come out. "Adaryn they're not going to hurt you. They're friendly." The frightened girl finally poked her head out and had a look in her eyes that plainly said "prove it".

"Heh, stubborn one, isn't she?" The green robot grinned. "She's almost as bad as 'Jackie with a bit of Red Alert's paranoia thrown in." In the response the girl stuck her tongue out and hid again.

"Apparently quite the attitude as well." The white and orange one noted.

Arcee sighed and moved her legs. Seeing that she no longer had a hiding place, Adaryn made a mad dash for the nearest corridor to her right. RaulSeyr chirped at her to stop but the girl didn't heed the warning. She turned around to see if the three robots were giving chase and wound up smacking face first into something hard and metal and tumbled backwards. Her fear level blew through the roof on seeing a colossal red and blue robot with big rig tires attached to its feet and smokestacks poking over its shoulders. She let out a tiny shriek and scooted away, her wide and terrified royal blue eyes never once leaving the robot's kindly and patient aquamarine ones.

"I apologize for startling you. Are you hurt?" It asked politely. The mech's olfactory sensors picked up the huge amounts of fear pheromones the girl was giving off. She wasn't just startled, she was terrified. A strange growling hiss drew his attention to his feet, where a five foot long reptile with feathered wings was standing in a defensive position a few feet away from the girl. It didn't exactly look dangerous but it would be best not to further anger it. The robot knelt down and extended a hand in appeasement and the winged reptile inched forward cautiously and sniffed at the limb, then withdrew back to the terrified girl and offered a string of comforting chirps and gently helped the girl back to her feet. She still looked scared but the pheromone levels had decreased substantially.

"Could I offer a lift back to the command center as a peace offering to the two of you?" It suggested. The girl gave him a skeptical look but the reptile flew up and perched atop the mech's head. It tried to gently shoo the creature off and ended up having the reptile playfully nip at its digits. For the first time thus far the girl cracked a smile.

"RaulSeyr! Lay off on the robot ya overgrown pigeon!" She scolded. "And I can walk back, it's alright. Just try not to spook me like that again, yeah? I already have three shadow men trying to jump me. I don't need a giant robot trying to as well."

"Duly noted." The robot said and walked ahead, careful to avoid the girl and balance himself to keep his passenger from falling off. The strange girl followed him unhesitatingly this time though she still seemed wary of getting too close to him. That was understandable given their less than formal greeting.

The gathering back in the command center was in a state of mild shock mixed with confusion.

"Sorry about that, Optimus. Adaryn is still a little skittish." June said.

"Her reaction towards me was natural if what you told Ratchet was true. That kind of traumatic experience is bound to leave emotional scars." The red and blue robot stated. "What did you call the entire team in for, Nurse Darby?"

The nurse turned to Adaryn once more. "Show them." The fear in the girl's eyes returned and she darted off again down another corridor. Ratchet sighed in irritation and shook his head.

"Bumblebee, stop her please." The orange and white mech said. The yellow and black robot shifted down into a powerful muscle car and sped down the corridor the girl had fled down.

OooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooOoooooooooooooooooo

"Are we sure?" A young man adorned in glittering icy blue armor demanded in a harsh whisper. A pair of massive Snowy Owl wings protruded from his back. Light blue tattoos covered his left arm.

"Positive, Chrsyto." Another young man, this one in storm cloud purple armor with lightning yellow trim, answered in a learned voice. One could just barely make out gill slits on his throat as he typed away on a tech gauntlet on his arm. "I don't make mistakes of that magnitude."

"What do we know?" A teenaged girl with dark green hair and flowing jade robes asked. White dove wings on her back twitched in agitation as she waited for a reply.

"I sent Lyth on a reconnaissance mission to confirm." A female voice spoke from the shadows. "She has the tattoos like the rest of us. The girl also has a Dragon."

"Species?" The young man with tech gauntlet inquired learnedly.

"A Lore Wing hatchling." The voice from the shadows answered.

"What?!" A third young man in brilliant gold and silver armor cried in shock. "They're supposed to be extinct! How is that possible?"

"Apparently this one decided not to follow the status quo, Hunter." A fourth man in flaming red and yellow armor, large Red Tailed Hawk wings and a helmet that resembled a dragon, replied. "And you're forgetting that Dragons don't hatch unless their riders are nearby. That one was probably in hibernation and avoided the Dragon Wars."

"True, true." Hunter rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Is the girl in any immediate danger, Fallon?"

"Lyth picked up the presence of three Shades; one of them was an Alpha." The voice from the shadows answered.

"_Three?!_" The fire-armored young man whistled. "Damn. I only had one after me. Gal must be pretty powerful to get an Alpha after her."

"Then we must intervene quickly before they drain her and corrupt her to the side of the Shadow. That cannot be allowed." Hunter announced. "Valkoor, whereabouts is she?"

The storm-armored young man fingered with his tech gauntlet and brought up a holographic map. "Here," He pointed to a bright blip in the Nevada desert. "Some little desert town called Jasper. I'm also picking up strange energy readings from that area as well. They don't appear hostile but they're also not mad-made. Not interference either."

"Storm elementals perhaps?" The green robed girl guessed.

Valkoor shook his head and frowned. "No the wavelengths are different, more concentrated. And storm elementals don't live in deserts, Cassandra. Those signals belong to something completely different."

"Then howsabout we take down two birds with one stone?" The flame-armored man grinned. "We help the girl and investigate the energy signals."

"Agreed Eli." Hunter said. "Riders, we leave in five. Pack for a long flight and be ready for anything. Make haste, everyone!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Coimhthíoch**

Chapter 4

Finding the strange, frightened girl wasn't very difficult for the Autobot scout. Reaching her was another story, and convincing her to come with him? Oh how the mech wished his voice box still worked properly! The girl had wedged herself into a small crevice in the silo wall and was curled up in a tight, trembling ball. When she noticed him she gasped and wedged farther in. The yellow and black muscle car loosed a string of beeps, whirs, and trills and cautiously inched towards the crevice.

"Get away from me! Leave me alone!" Adaryn snarled with animalistic savagery. The car noticed that her front two canine teeth were more elongated than a normal human's and her pupils had changed slightly to resemble an avian's. "I'm a freak!"

The scout jolted on his axels in shock at this derogatory adjective she'd used to describe herself. He bwooped at her reassuringly, changed back into his bipedal form and sat down cross legged in front of the girl's hiding place. The girl hissed and turned her head away in dismissal but the scout refused to budge from his spot. Heavy footfalls made the scout turn his head to see Optimus walking towards him. The scout beeped and pointed at the crevice.

"She is in there? How is she?" The Autobot leader inquired quietly. Bumblebee quickly told him about her pupils having altered and the long front canine teeth. Optimus hummed thoughtfully before kneeling down and reaching out a hand for the crevice. RaulSeyr leapt off his head and bounded down his arm to try and convince her friend to come out. The little Wyrm received a snarl in answer and she slunk away in defeat with her tail dragging dejectedly along the floor.

"Adaryn, please come out." Optimus pleaded. "We have no desire to harm you or your companion. All we want to know is what caused June's frantic call to Ratchet."

"I'll tell you what I told your beeping pal. I'm a freak!" Adaryn hissed. "Now scram! Both o' you! Leave me alone!"

"Why do you call yourself a freak, child?" The larger mech persisted in his gentle questioning. "I see nothing that would designate you as an abnormality."

"Yeah well then you must be blind, robot." She grumbled. She seemed to debate something and then crawled out of her hiding place. "You wanna know why I'm a freak?" She forcefully tore the trench coat off and threw it a good distance away. Two feathered appendages unfurled from her back and she scowled at them, pointing, "These are why I'm a freak!" She screamed. Bumblebee trilled in astonishment and Optimus simply stared in disbelief as data packets bombarded his processor, telling him that what he was seeing was impossible, yet the wings were as real as he was.

"Now go away!" She growled and crawled back into her crevice. Bumblebee got up and left but the larger mech stubbornly stayed put.

"Adaryn, my race may be new to your planet but wings are a gift, not a curse." The red and blue mech murmured. "Humans have always longed to fly without the aid of machines and you now possess the means to do just that."

"Hmph." The girl huffed without even looking at him. Her head didn't turn but the dark blue eyes flicked to the robot to glare at him. "I know what you're playin' at, robot. You're exploiting my presently unstable emotional state and attempting to use that to force me out. It's not working."

The mech sighed wearily and left her to her brooding. He knew enough about human emotions and body language to understand that the girl simply needed space and solitude to cope with the wings. She would come out when she was ready.

Adaryn heard the giant robot leave her and return to its friends in the main room and clenched her fist in anger. She had to have the worst luck in history. First the shadow men chasing her, now wings? What else would happen? Would her feet mutate into bird claws? Would the feathers spread to her entire body? She trembled as a dozen other possibilities raced through her mind, each more terrifying than the last. She closed her eyes and took a slow, steadying breath and shivered due to the cold air of the place's interior. That was probably to keep the giant robots and their equipment from overheating. Good planning on their part but it didn't help to keep Adaryn from feeling any less isolated and scared. She made herself more comfortable within the crevice and tried to sleep off the day's events. In moments the girl drifted into sleep.

OooooooooooooooooooooooOooooooooooo

Adaryn opened her eyes to bright daylight streaming through thick leaves overhead. _Wait a minute. I was inside. How am I outside?_ She thought, glancing around to try and find her bearings. The trees around were old, gnarled, and sturdy yet strangely beautiful. Their leaves were a brilliant emerald and the trunks were rich, mahogany brown. Song birds twittered and hopped from branch to branch, singing their little ditties to each other. Colorful flowers swayed in the light breeze. This didn't look like any place she'd ever been to. She scrambled to her feet and reeled back on seeing she wasn't wearing her ordinary clothes – in their place was royal blue battle armor that was intricately detailed with silver; the neck was covered in soft, downy feathers for maximum comfort and style; the shoulder pads had two large Tanzanite gemstones set in them. Their size alone indicated they would be worth a fortune and the rich color would only increase their value. She continued examining the armor with equal parts intrigue and apprehension. It was very well made and surprisingly light and comfortable. The boots were styled to give the impression of speed – they even had little winglets on the sides, like the sandals Hermes wore in Greek mythology. The gauntlets didn't completely cover her hands (they stopped right at the knuckles) and were styled to look like claws or maybe talons. She also realized she was also wearing a helmet and quickly removed it to see what it looked like. It was a winged helmet like those worn by Valkyries but the design was different, more aerodynamic, and the wing protrusions extended a good ways back.

_Where am I and where did I get this armor?!_ She shrieked internally. Her fear began rising to the surface once more and her heart rate followed, causing her to hyperventilate. Absurd really, considering her pleasant surroundings, but sometimes emotion reigns over logic and squashes it underfoot. The ground shook and heaved underneath her, only worsening her panic. Cracks and fissures opened up and foul smelling smoke rose out of them.

"Breathe kiddo. Just relax." A voice spoke from the trees. "Your emotions control your powers. Calm down. Deep breaths." Adaryn, not knowing what else to do, obeyed the gentle command and tried to calm down. Slowly but surely the ground stopped quaking and the fissures sealed up. She was amazed.

The voice continued: "See, wasn't so hard was it? Though I must say, an Earthquake on your first – albeit unintentional – try? Quite a powerful spell too and not typically seen during an Awakening. Very impressive."

"Do you intend to keep flattering me from the trees or come out and do it in person?" She asked smugly. The voice laughed heartily and the leaves trembled above her. The flapping of powerful wings met her ears and a brown bird of prey landed on a low branch over her head. Its beak was razor sharp and its talons looked like they could rip through industrial grade steel like paper. Adaryn's mind went over the descriptions of hawks and knew at once that the bird was a Cooper's hawk.

Adaryn gawked at the bird. "Wha –? How can you talk? Who are you? What do you want with me?"

The bird's black eyes glittered. "One question at a time, kiddo. For starters, I can talk because I'm a Spirit Guide, an animal spirit assigned to help and guide you through your life. My name is Wandering Sky Searcher, though you may call me 'Wander'. That answers your first two questions, I hope?" It asked. "Hmm technically I already answered your third question as well – Spirit Guide and all that." It chuckled at the girl's wide eyes.

"And the armor?" She pressed.

"You're going to need _something_ to protect you from enemy spells, kiddo! That armor is top-of-the-line, forged by the Coppersmith upon my request." Wander replied. "It will help keep you from getting to badly beat up in a duel. The armor is enchanted to provide comfort, powerful defense and offense, and speed. It will also speed up your recovery rate."

"But…." Adaryn tried to get another question in but the spirit animal stopped her with a simple raise of the foot.

"You want to know about the wings, do you not? They are perfectly natural. Since I am your Guide, some of my physical characteristics will transfer to you. Namely the wings, air sacs in your lungs to allow you to fly at high altitudes, and enhanced sight. Other, smaller additions would be a third eyelid to keep debris from impairing your vision in flight." Wander explained. "Nothing harmful."

Adaryn scowled at the hawk. "Nothing harmful?! How the hell am I supposed to go out in public looking like this, bird-brain?" The ground trembled again and miniscule cracks opened at her feet.

"My, my, quite the temper. That might prove an issue." Wander mused. "In time you will learn to disguise your wings, and the armor will only appear in magical combat. Your normal attire will remain the same at all other times." He soothed the irate girl. He glanced up and saw dark clouds form and thick mist approach through the dense undergrowth. "No, no, how did they find you so quickly?!" The hawk squawked in alarm. "RUN ADARYN! GO! I will keep them busy!"

The spirit hawk screamed and flew for the mist, clawing viciously at it with his talons. Aggravated hissing told her the hawk had hit his target, though what exactly the target was she didn't want to stick around to discover. She took off running and little sections of mist broke off from the main cloud and darted after her. Their dull grey color darkened to inky black and one of them coiled around her ankle, tripping her. The other fragments caught up and coiled around her arms, slithering up to her neck and taking on the form of tiny serpents with blood red eyes. The shadow serpents hissed in delight and drove their fangs into her neck. Fire coursed through her veins and she screamed in agony as whatever poison they'd injected her with began to take effect. She could feel her life draining away and felt the blackness of oblivion creep up on her, engulfing her…

OooooooooooooooooOoooooooo

A shrill, terrified, agonized screech reverberated around the silo. The Autobots felt their energon freeze at the cry and took off running to the crevice where Adaryn was last, fearing the worst. Bumblebee, being the quickest, got to her first and saw the winged girl huddled in the fetal position and sweating, fear pheromones rolling off of her in waves. Her dark blue eyes were wide and terrified and when he tried to reach out to comfort her she lashed out and hissed. The fearful eyes switched to horror on seeing the yellow and black mech recoil and buzz in alarm. He wasn't hurt but the ferocity with which the girl had attacked him stunned him.

"Adaryn, it's all right. You're safe." The blue and pink female robot whispered. "You're in the silo. Nothing can hurt you here."

The girl shuddered violently. "No, no you're wrong. The silo isn't warded. It can't protect me from….from whatever attacked me in my dream." She said jerkily. "That's how they found me – the silo isn't warded. It can't keep them out."

"Warded? Whaddaya mean, kid?" The green robot asked. "And who're 'they'?"

She shuddered again. "I don't know." She shook her head to clear the faint buzzing in her ears and rubbed her aching temples. "All I know is that this silo isn't warded against Shadow. That needs to be fixed." She scrambled out of the crevice and ran into the main silo area.

"Is she, you know, all there?" The green mech wondered, twirling a hand over his left audio receiver. "What's all the scrap about warding and Shadow?"

"You're guess is as good as mine, Bulkhead. With her panicked state at the moment, warding the silo is clearly very important." The orange and white medic answered. "Obviously there is something going on that we don't know about."

OoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooOoooooooooooooooo

Outside the silo, the shadows around the mesa thickened into thee human shapes.

"She's in here?" Reon'za whispered hoarsely. "Oh this is too good. The place isn't even warded slightly." He licked his lips in anticipation. "The shadow serpents marked her?"

"Indeed they have." Milron answered with a fanged grin. Thundering wing beats made all three Shades turn their gaze skyward.

"G'day mates!" A young man in flaming armor and a helm shaped like a dragon, smirked from atop his Fire Salamander. "Now go home." He growled. The Salamander's mouth opened, revealing knife-like teeth and a long, forked tongue. The mouth interior soon glowed red hot and the winged beast spewed a stream of super-heated flame at the three Shades. The two weaker Shades shrieked and scattered while their leader took the powerful flame attack head on. Six more Dragons gathered and each had a rider; a large, gold and silver one with eyes that shone like tiny suns, short horns that curved backward a few feet, and massive leathery wings that spanned easily twenty feet; its rider wore brilliant gold armor, a helm shaped like a falcon, and was armed with a _Khopesh_ that glittered in the moonlight. The second beast was inky black with silvery eyes and a bony helm covering its face, sharp spikes sticking out of its tail, and large crow wings; the rider wore deathly black armor with bones woven into the design and was armed with a scythe that exuded an aura of black magic. The third was emerald green with beautiful jade eyes, short horns, and magnificent green feathered wings; the rider wore pale, flowing green robes and was armed with a simple staff of light colored wood, the only detail on it being numerous carvings of unknown origin. The fourth winged reptile was icy blue with darker blue markings on its snout, leathery wings that spanned twenty feet, and massive, curling horns that resembled a ram's; the rider's armor was similarly colored and was armed with a spear tipped with sharp, glittering ice. The fifth was clearly aquatic in heritage – fins adorned its head, back, and tail, and bioluminescent markings covered its body, the wings were fused to the front two legs, and a fish tail tipped the beast's tail; the rider wore armor that was aquatic themed, gill slits just visible on his neck, and a double edged two-handed sword that sparked with high voltage electricity.

"So, the riders have returned from their peaceful slumber in the Spirit World. How quaint." Milron sneered. "Was it worthwhile returning from death only to be slaughtered by the Umbra Legion?"

"Go back to Tartarus where you belong, Shade!" Hunter shouted. "Achoris, show him the might of Ra!"

The Dune Wing roared in fury and its body began to glow brighter and brighter by the second. Soon the light rivaled that of the sun. The wings flared out and the Dragon opened its gaping maw. A high powered blast of brilliant sunlight erupted out of the beast's mouth and struck the Alpha Shade square in the torso. The other two Shades were trembling in fright against the mesa walls and ran when they saw what was left of their leader after the flash died down – a pile of smoking black ashes.

"Yeah! Score one for Dusty!" Eli hooted. "Whoo!"

"Nice shot Hunter." The icy armored rider said. "Though we still have the Alpha's lackeys to deal with."

The black armored rider raised her scythe and bones erupted from the ground beneath her. They trembled and quickly coalesced into a monstrous skeletal dragon with rotting flesh handing off of its body and wings. Its blank hollow eyes filled with black fire and glittered in malicious intent.

"No! Please! Spare us Harbinger of Hades!" The two Shades pleaded. The rider's look remained impassive and she waved the scythe.

"Bon appetite, Bones." The black armored rider smirked. The skeletal dragon swished its tail and flung the two Shades into the air and opened up its mouth. The Shades' dying screamed were muffled as the undead beast snapped its jaws shut and swallowed. The black armored rider waved her scythe and the beast vanished back to Underworld to deliver its catch to its master.

"Hades will make sure those two can't return any time soon. Alphas can't be kept down so easily. That one may pose a bit more of a problem." The black armored rider spoke afterwards. "You can't kill an Alpha Shade; you can only dispel them for a time."

"Only too true, Fallon." Hunter replied with a weary sigh. "But was a Skeletal Dragon really necessary? A Wraith would've done the trick just as well. A Skeletal Dragon requires a lot more Blood Mana to summon."

"Hey, the bones of it were right under the ground. What did you want me to do, summon a Ghoul?" Fallon protested. "Would've been a waste. Plus, that one was hungry. Who am I to deny a zombie dragon his midnight snack?"

"You're a real piece o' work Spook. Remind me never to get on your bad side." Eli grinned idiotically at her.

"Let's get the girl. I heard what one of the weaker Shades said – it said the girl was marked." The green robed rider said with worry. "We must wait till morning comes for me to cleanse the taint from her, however."

"Then we will make camp on one of the nearby mesas." Hunter decided. "That is all we can do for now." He pulled the reins on his dragon and steered it over to one of the countless mesas dotting the area, the other riders doing the same and following their leader to make camp.


	5. Chapter 5

**Coimhthíoch**

Chapter 5

When the Autobots made their way back to the main silo area, Adaryn was scrambling around on the floor with a piece of white chalk she'd somehow managed to locate. The translation programs that each robotic alien had weren't able to make sense of the strange glyphs, markings, and words that she was drawing onto the stone. Jack and June recognized a few of the symbols as eerily similar to the ones covering her arms but the floor symbols had very slight alterations made to them.

"Adaryn? What are you doing?" The green robot demanded. The girl ignored him for a moment as she finished up another symbol.

"Warding this place against Shadow." She replied abstractedly, and quickly went back to drawing.

"And that would be…?" The blue and pink femme bot prompted.

"I don't have a clue." Adaryn answered. "All I know is that Shadow is bad, Light is good. And I don't even know how I know that."

That comment seemed to be a bit of a paradox – she was warding the silo against something she didn't fully understand and yet clearly knew what she was doing. She continued drawing, oblivious to the mechanical giants and the two humans watching her curiously. The orange and white mech let a beam of red light scan over her body as she kept drawing and picked up unusual energy readings. They didn't match anything he'd previously encountered but the energy was steady and strong, encasing the strange girl in a kind of shell that was slowing taking a vague shape. Some sort of predatory bird from the looks of it. It didn't appear to be harming her in any way and was actually keeping all of her vitals remarkably stable considering her recent panic attack.

Adaryn dusted her hands off and got back up off the floor after finishing the last few symbols. She surveyed her work with an accomplished air but then staggered slightly, as though she were suddenly very dizzy. June steadied the girl and led her over to one of the giant metal feet nearby so she could have something solid to lean against.

"You alright? You don't look so good." The green mech asked her.

The girl massaged her head and shook it a few times as though to clear it. "Dunno. Just got really light headed after I finished those warding symbols and such." She leaned heavily against the metal foot as another wave of dizziness threatened to make her topple over.

"What's wrong with her, Doc? She _looks_ fine but she sure doesn't _act_ like she is."

The orange and white mech scanned her a second time and saw that the energy shell encasing the girl was dim and flickering, threatening to give out at any moment. "I'm not entirely sure, Bulkhead. The symptoms she's displaying would indicate that she's very low on energy, but the physical readings I'm getting disprove that."

"So in other words you have no idea." The blue and pink femme deadpanned.

"I'm not saying that. There's some sort of energy shell around her and its extremely weak. I think that's what's causing these symptoms, but I don't know how to bring it back to normal levels." The medic retorted. The girl gasped in pain and held the side of her neck. When she removed her hand a small portion of it was coated in red, sticky liquid. Blood.

"Oh, bullocks." She cursed. "Those damned snakes actually _did_ bite me."

The nurse wheeled on her. "Snakes?! When did this happen?"

Adaryn winced again as her vision blurred and the side of her neck went numb. "When I was asleep. I had a nightmare of some sort and two snakes made out of black mist bit me on my neck, and I thought that since it was just a bad dream that it wouldn't, you know, hurt me." At the last word the girl gasped and held the side of her neck. The orange and white robot frantically scanned her a third time but found no trace of venom in her blood stream. That was impossible – if a poisonous snake of any known species had bitten her, there would be detectable amounts of the toxin in her, and yet there was nothing of the sort to be found. His agitation seemed to transfer to his allies. Her scanned her one final time and saw something….mindboggling.

The energy shell appeared to be fighting back against the undetectable toxin. The shell was transmitting waves of brilliant light outward and the signal it was outputting was getting stronger and stronger by the second. Eventually the medic's scanner shorted out due to the energy interfering with it.

"What's going on, Optimus?" The blue and pink femme demanded of her leader.

"I do not know." The red and blue mech answered. Privately he had an inkling of suspicion as to what was occurring. The Matrix was responding to the invisible energy surge and sending out a high, musical note, inaudible to everyone but him. Whatever the energy shell Ratchet had described was doing, it wasn't normal. It was mystical bordering on the supernatural. With no warning, the high, musical note ended, the invisible energy surged stopped and the girl collapsed to the floor, trembling from exertion.

"Hoo…..well that was…..interesting." She panted, struggling back to her feet. She twirled her arms and shook her legs to make sure everything was still usable. "Fine now, though. Good riddance." Quickly, the girl took her trench coat off and half-way unfurled the wings, checking them over for any kind of damage. She was oblivious to the stares the other robots were giving her.

"Uh….am I just seeing things or does Adaryn have wings on her back?" The green mech gawked.

"You aren't seeing things, Bulkhead. Those are bird wings." June confirmed. The girl stopped her self-examination and tilted her head to the side like a curious sparrow. "And your staring isn't helping." The green mech looked away, somewhat abashed. Adaryn didn't seem to have been offended at the robot's attention and playfully winked at him, giggling to herself.

"I'd ask how that's even remotely possible but it's obvious that even she doesn't know." Ratchet shook his head in wonder. He monitored the girl as she scampered up the stairs that led up to the platform the other children used as a lounge and curl up on the couch. In moments the girl slipped into a light sleep; he honestly couldn't blame her considering what she'd just done. A light pattering at his feet made him look down and see the strangle little winged reptile running playful circles around him and letting out noises that sounded like a cross between a bark and a squeak.

"Go on, shoo." He motioned for it to leave him alone. In response the creature swished its tail back and forth excitedly, letting out another barking squeak, and pounced onto one of his feet, growling playfully. "I said shoo. Go on; go find someone else to bother." As soon as those words came out he regretted them. The creature quit trying to get his attention and went over to Optimus, performing the same adorable act, even rolling around on its back and purring. He looked over to the loft area and saw the girl peering over the back of the couch. Then she erupted into fits of hysterical giggling.

Jack and his mom suppressed their own laughter on seeing the giant mech's baffled look. The robot knelt down and extended one of his hands to see what the little creature wanted only to have his digits nipped at repeatedly. Confusion quickly turned to amusement and understanding and the hand danced around the creature. RaulSeyr gave a happy squeak and followed it around, pawing and nipping before finally flat-out pouncing on top of it. The hand "played dead" and the winged reptile growled in triumph, flaring its wings out, and then chirruped in surprise when the hand lifted off the ground with her still on top of it. The hand transferred the little creature onto the robot's second hand and used one of its metal digits to scratch the reptile under her chin.

"Energetic little thing, aren't you?" The giant mech observed. "'RaulSeyr' I believe your name was?"

RaulSeyr bobbed her head up and down in confirmation, blinking innocently up at him. She gave a few happy purrs and curled up in his hand.

"I think it likes you, boss-bot." Bulkhead grinned. RaulSeyr glanced back at the bulky green robot and stuck her forged tongue out at him, giving a little huff as though saying "Just shut up and let me the love the giant red and blue robot for playing with me."

Adaryn whistled for her friend to come back over to her and the little winged reptile obeyed, spreading tis wings and gliding over to her. It curled up on one end of the sofa and positioned its wings so the girl could use them as a kind of pillow for the night. Content that her friend was with her, Adaryn laid her head down on the feathered wings and closed her eyes.

The two humans were quickly bridged back to their homes for the night and Arcee went with them. Ever since the incident with Airachnid, the femme was hesitant to leave them alone for any extended length of time and the other Autobots understood her anxiety, especially after what the sadistic spider-con had done to her first combat partner, Tailgate.

When the green vortex shut the occupants of the silo went about their tasks. Being giant alien machines from a distant planet, they weren't tied down during the night periods on Earth like humans and most of the other diurnal species that occupied this planet were. They could adjust their processors to experience the passage of time far differently than humans and they didn't need sleep as much, either. The only reason they would go into brief recharge states was to keep their internal components from overheating, just like a computer needs to be shut down occasionally to keep from overheating.

One of the robots had dimmed the bright industrial lighting a bit so the bright light wouldn't keep their two guests from getting some much-needed shut eye. At first glance the girl appeared asleep but she kept tossing and turning as though something were bothering her. They took it for granted that it was simply the wings keeping her half-awake, half-asleep. Optimus knew better – the nightmare she'd had earlier had rattled her significantly and was making her jumpy and restless. He spotted the tawny wings twitch and tremble in agitation as the girl tossed and turned on the couch. Finally an aggravated, I-can't-deal-with-this-anymore sigh came from the girl and her head peeked over the back of the sofa. There were dark circles under her eyes but otherwise she looked very much awake and alert.

The yellow and black scout buzzed at her, no doubt wondering what was keeping her awake. The girl tilted her head in confusion.

"I'm sorry, I can't understand you. All I hear are mechanical buzzes." She told him. She vaulted up onto the metal railing skirting the catwalk and let her legs dangle over the side, swinging them back and forth idly. The scout eyed her, well aware of the fifteen foot drop if she fell.

"Can't sleep, huh?" The big green mech ambled in from one of the corridors and spotted her.

"Nope." Adaryn replied curtly. She ran her fingers through the soft feathers on her wings and flatted some of the ones that were sticking out slightly due to her tossing and turning earlier. She knew enough about bird physiology and anatomy to know that bird wings needed applications of special oils to keep the thin barbs on each feather linked together to allow for smooth flight. Birds had preening glands that secreted the oil; Adaryn wasn't full bird but perhaps her fingertips now produced the needed oils. This was only a guess on her part – hopefully it was a good guess and the correct assumption.

"Well since you obviously aren't going to get any recharge tonight, why don't you help out around the base? It'll give you somethin' to do to pass the time." Bulkhead suggested.

"Sure. What needs doing?" The girl asked, hopping off the railing and into the scout's open hands. He gave a friendly trill in greeting and then gently placed her on the ground.

"Come on, I'll show you." The green mech motioned for her to follow and the winged girl jogged after him down one of the many corridors.

OoooooooooooooooooooOooooooooo

They went a fair ways back into the mesa. Adaryn could see dozens of pipes attached to the walls. Most of them looked to be in good shape but a few of them were showing signs of rust. The mech stopped in front of a half-rusted section of piping.

"Okay, see those rusted pipes?" Bulkhead began. The girl responded with an of-course-I-see-them-I'm-not-blind look. "These certain pipes don't carry water, or gasoline or whatever. They carry Energon."

Adaryn glanced up at him with a spark of scientific interest in her dark blue eyes. "What's Energon?"

"It's what Autobots use as fuel and it's also what powers the groundbridge, which is the thing that was used to get you here in the first place. Kinda like a stable wormhole – gets you from point A to point B in a matter of seconds."

The scientific wonder in the girl's eyes made him grin. "And I'm guessing these rusty pipes lead to this 'groundbridge'?"

"Bingo. That rust is a problem though – rust eats away at metal and makes it brittle –"

"And if it eats through those pipes and they break, the fuel won't reach its source." Adaryn finished for him. "So it needs to be gotten rid of."

The green mech chuckled. "You're a smart one. That's exactly it. Not too difficult for ya?" He reached down and handed her a thick slice of sandpaper.

"Psh, nah. I've got this. This is a walk in the park compared to me growing wings in a day." She began slowly but firmly rubbing the sandpaper across the rusted pipes. "I'll do the smaller pipes if you can do the larger ones."

"Deal."

They worked silently for a while. The winged girl seemed to appreciate having something to do and someone to do it with. The fact that humans were capable of randomly sprouting wings out of nowhere astounded the former construction worker. He wasn't Ratchet, granted, but Bulkhead knew that internally, the medic must be having a scientific mental fit and was constantly telling himself that a human growing wings was a genetic impossibility, and was probably giving Optimus a hard time about it. Personally the green mech thought the wings were beyond awesome and in the right light, downright beautiful. Miko would kill to get a look at them.

Adaryn's eyes moved and glanced sideways up at her giant metal helper. "What's your name again? I heard Jack's mom say it but I wasn't really listening because…well…you know. And what's everyone else's name? I never got the chance to ask."

"Name's Bulkhead, kid." The green mech replied. "The blue and pink femme is Arcee, the one who's staying with the Darby's; the yellow and black one's the scout, Bumblebee; the mech who kept scanning you earlier is Ratchet; and lastly, the one you smacked into when you made a run for it is Optimus – he's the leader."

The girl covered her mouth to keep from bursting into laughter. "Oh my God…..Now I just feel bad. I run straight into the feet of your leader and then scream. I must've looked ridiculous…" She hit her forehead with the palm of her hand.

"Ah, don't worry 'bout it." Bulkhead waved her embarrassment aside. "He's real friendly and understanding. He's a Prime – it's in his coding to be nice to people like you."

"What, you mean freaks of nature?" She scowled angrily. The mech instantly though he'd said something to offend her until a mischievous twinkle shone in her eyes and a tiny small appeared. "Gotcha."

She finished up her section of piping, wobbled back to her feet, and dusted her tattered blue jeans off. The wings on her back shifted as she watched Bulkhead respond to some kind of transmission. The mech sighed and severed the communication.

"The Doc wants to see back in the main silo; says he wants a closer look at your wings." He told her. The girl shrugged in a bored banner and sprinted down the corridor they'd come down back to the command center. It was going to be a _looong_ night for her as Ratchet's latest mind teaser.


	6. Chapter 6

**Coimhthíoch**

Chapter 6

Adaryn sprinted back into the main silo area and skidded to a stop at the feet of the orange and white medic, Ratchet. He was busy trying to get his scanner working again after the powerful energy surge and almost didn't notice her come in.

"You called?" She prompted. "Something about my wings, right?"

The mech glanced down, a tiny amount of surprise in his bright blue eyes, and nodded in confirmation. He hadn't been expecting her to come in so quickly and willingly agree to his request. She seemed the independent type to him, the kind of person who didn't enjoy obeying orders that didn't make sense nor had any real purpose.

"All I want to know is how developed they are at the present juncture and whether they allow sustained flight." He clarified, lowering a hand to help her up onto the exam table. The girl refused the hand, instead electing to vault up on her own, using the various bars on the table as hand holds. For someone so frail looking at first glance, she was quite nimble and strong. Vince must've had one heck of a surprise when she'd attacked him at the high school.

"Spread the wings out as far as they'll go." The medic requested. The girl complied and spread the six foot tawny wings out to their limit; except they weren't six feet anymore, more like eight. Whether or not this was their new max limit remained to be seen – clearly they weren't done growing. The state of the feathers confirmed that – some of them were a slightly darker brown while the main bulk was still tawny colored. The lighter ones were tattered and a few fell off when Adaryn's wings twitched; molting, that's what was happening. The lighter feathers were the baby feathers and the darker ones were the adult feathers. The baby ones were being rapidly replaced by the dark brown adult ones.

"So?" The girl prompted.

"I'm not an expert on birds," Ratchet began. "But I believe they're around the juvenile stage, and that would mean they _should_ allow for flight. I'm not recommending you try that on your own, though. I'll need to think of a way for you to try them out safely in the morning. Now, give them a few good flaps and I'll gauge how much strength they have."

Once more Adaryn obeyed without arguing. She raised the wings high into the air and brought them down hard, repeating the action several times. The results the scanner showed were impressive to say the least – the wings had as much horsepower as a heavy-duty pick-up truck. If that's how much strength the _juvenile_ stage had, then the adult wings would have almost twice that.

"You're done right? Can I go now?"

The medic waved her off the exam table, "Fine, fine. You're free to go."

The girl got down the same way she'd gotten up, using the bars. When she was about seven feet above the ground, an expression came into existence that he couldn't figure out. She debated something internally and then launched herself off the bar she was holding onto, spreading the wings out and trying to slow her fall by gliding. The air in the silo was still and dead, completely unsuited for flight, and the girl ended up wobbling, veering sharply to the left, and tumbling head over heels into a tanged mass of wings and limbs. The only reason her little reptilian friend had managed to fly was because the wings were fully formed and it'd taken off from a greater height.

"I warned you." The medic frowned. "I warned you and you chose not to listen to me."

Adaryn rubbed her head ruefully and struggled back to her feet. The wings didn't look hurt, thankfully, and the only result of her reckless action was a few light bruises on her arms and legs.

"Yeah, yeah, rub it in." She grumbled, trudging back up the steps to the catwalks. The wings twitched irritably and a few more light brown feathers fluttered to the ground. _Definitely has an attitude that one_ Ratchet thought. _The molting might be a bit of an issue though…_

OoooooooooooooooOoooooooooooo

Adaryn was mad with impatience. She wanted to fly so badly but the dead air in the base left that out of the question. The only way for her to really test them out was if she were outside in the open air.

_Ever heard of the old saying "patience is a virtue"? _A voice spoke in her head. A very familiar voice.

"Wander!" She exclaimed. Ratchet looked over at her as though she'd gone totally mental, decided against it, and went back to whatever he'd been doing at his computer.

_You don't need to speak out loud for me to hear you, kiddo. Unless you want to get sent to a loony bin, that is._ Wander chuckled. _Just think what you want to say and I'll hear you._

_ Oh, alright. Like this?_ Adaryn tried what the Guide had said and thought the question rather than speak it out loud.

_Yes, just like that. I don't want your metallic friend over there thinking you've gone crazy, you know._ _I've sped up the wings growth rate as much as I safely could but it'll still be about six to eight hours until they're truly flight ready._ Wander said.

_Hm, alright. Thanks for the update, Wander._ Adaryn thanked the ghost hawk. _Oh, one more thing. Ratchet is going nuts over that weird energy surge earlier. I want an answer from you so I can set his mind at ease. Was that you?_

_ Yes, that surge was my doing. When the shadow serpents bit you it altered your life force, making it easier for any creature of Shadow to locate you. I expelled the poison and inoculated you at the same time. You won't need to worry about being bitten again._

_Mkay, I'll tell him that. Thanks again, bird-brain._

_Anytime, kiddo._ The hawk's presence retreated back into the recesses of her mind.

"Hey, Ratchet?" She called to get the mech's attention. "I know what caused that freaky surge earlier. Promise me you won't laugh though, or call me crazy."

Ratchet stared at her. "I promise I won't do either, Adaryn."

The girl took a deep breath and began. "The surge was caused by my Spirit Guide, Wandering Sky Searcher. The surge was him getting rid of the shadow serpents' poison and inoculating me at the same time. He didn't mean to short out your scanner."

The medic continued to stare at her. "Considering all of the unusual occurrences that've happened around you, nothing surprises me at this point." He turned back to his computer without another word.

_Huh. That went a lot smoother than I expected. _She thought.

_Same here. I would've thought he'd flat out call you 'mentally unstable' or something like that._ Wander agreed.

_Oh he's not that bad. Grouchy sure, but he seems an accomplished healer and scientist to me. He won't many any rash decisions – he gathers evidence and if there's enough of it, he'll make a theory or educated guess on that evidence. _

Wander chuckled. _Ah, I almost forgot how intellectual and bright you are. _

Adaryn yawned and her eyelids drooped. _You must be tired. If it'll help, I can hum you a song to help you sleep._ Receiving a mental go ahead sign, he began humming an old Gaelic tune. She had to admit, the bird had a good voice, ringing and bell-like. By the end of the song, the girl was fast asleep and didn't notice a transparent hawk appear out of thin air and perch beside her, keeping watch over her during the long night.

OooooooooooooooooooooooOoooooooooooooooo

The blaring of some kind of alarm made Adaryn sit bolt upright and glance around wildly. Her first thought was that the mesa silo base was under attack of some kind, but the mechanical giants only seemed annoyed and bothered, not frightened or angry.

"It's Agent Fowler…." Ratchet grumbled. "Bumblebee, keep Adaryn and RaulSeyr out of sight. We can't have him dragging them off to some army base. For all we know, guns and bombs can't hurt the three men that are currently hunting her down."

The scout beeped and picked the girl and her Wyrm up, walking quickly down one of the corridors. He reached a corner and placed them both down, trilling and pointing at the ground. The meaning was obvious: stay put. He transformed into a yellow and black muscle car and sped back into the silo proper. RaulSeyr decided being stuck hiding wasn't the most entertaining thing in the world and trotted after the car.

"'Seyr, no! Come back! He said stay here!" Adaryn shouted. Of course, her friend didn't listen (perhaps payback for her not listing to 'Seyr's warning earlier?) and kept trotting down the corridor. Realizing there was no other way the girl took off running after her reptilian friend. She managed to get within arm's reach of her long, whip like tail, lunged forward, and gripped onto it.

"RaulSeyr, stop!" She repeated. Once more the little Wyrm ignored her and kept trotting. Even Adaryn's weight didn't slow her down all that much. Adaryn let go of the tail and let her friend keep moving forward. When her friend was in this determined state, there was no stopping her.

When they reached the entrance, Adaryn spotted an unknown, dark-skinned man in a casual business suit, like the kind some government officials wear. He appeared to be discussing something with the giant red and blue robot, Optimus. He stopped mid-sentence when he spotted the girl and her reptilian friend.

"What in blazes…?! I thought I made it clear that involving any more civilians would get you 'Bots in trouble with my superiors! What's she doing here?!" The man fumed, pointing at Adaryn in an incriminating manner. RaulSeyr took the man's rage the wrong way and slinked towards him growling and hissing, her needle sharp teeth bared in a thinly veiled threat. "Tell that thing to back off, Prime."

Before the mech could tell the creature to stop, it charged forward, knocking the man flat on his back and pinning him with its clawed feet. It reared back and unleashed a deafening screaming roar right in the man's face, and then whirled away in a flash, curling protectively around the girl's legs. The girl scowled unhappily at her friend and rushed forward to help the man back up.

"Sorry about that, mister. She's just….protective of me." The white haired girl smiled thinly at him. "I'm really sorry. I've never seen her react that violently to a stranger before."

"Well you're lucky all it did was roar at me." The man answered angrily. "Those teeth and talons looked like they could do some serious damage." He turned back to Optimus. "Mind tellin' me what this kid is doin' here, Prime? And what a dragon hatchling is doing in a classified military base?"

"Dragon?" The red and blue mech repeated cluelessly.

The man pressed his hand into his forehead in an exasperated fashion. "You and your 'Bots have been on this planet for almost a decade and you don't know what a dragon is?"

"All we know is that 'dragons' never existed. They were the result of human imagination coupled with their ancient civilizations finding dinosaur remains." Ratchet harrumphed.

"That's what the governments of every nation and country wants the public (and you guys) to think. Dragons have played a fundamental part in keeping our race safe from the supernatural incursions that happen every so often. They almost never act on their own – each dragon chooses a rider in a way we don't fully understand – they pick their rider even before they've hatched out, before their riders are even born. Only wild dragons are solitary and never have riders." The man said.

"Wait, wait, back up. Are you saying that dragons really _do_ exist and they help defend this planet?" Bulkhead demanded. "How come we've never set optics on one until now?"

"Because dragons are very reclusive. They like to live in old, uncharted ruins, deep sea trenches, and mountain caves. A few live in the world's numerous national parks, though they're very rarely observed. Only a small handful of people have ever seen them. You 'Bots have probably passed at least three or so on your missions, you've just never seen them; some of them can be so well camouflaged they blend right into their environment."

"Oh and let me guess, 'Atlantis' exists too. Puh-leeze." The medic scoffed. The man merely raised an eyebrow in reply, saying nothing. "_Seriously?!"_

Adaryn had the grace to laugh at the mech's flabbergasted reaction. "I've learned that myths and legends often have some base in truth, Ratchet. 'Keep an open mind' I always say.

The medic's irritated glare earned a few snickers from Bulkhead and a trill from Bumblebee.

"Kid's got a point, Doc. And yes, Atlantis _does_ exist despite what most of those Discovery Channel documentaries say. Each major ocean or sea has an Atlantean outpost – the main city is under the Mediterranean. The outpost that's the most notorious is the one under the Bermuda Triangle. The reason the 'Cons haven't tried to attack 'em is because their cities and outposts are so deep under water the pressure would crush a 'Con in an instant."

"Well then how do you know about the Atlaneans?" Adaryn wondered. "If the pressure is enough to crush a giant robot then a human would be pancaked at half the depth."

"We're friends with the Pacific outpost, Phaeri, and some of their inhabitants come up and tell us if they've found anything unusual, Cybertronian or otherwise." The man explained. "Back to the main point – what is she doing here?"

"Adaryn is here simply for her own safety. From Nurse Darby we learned she is being pursued by three unknown male individuals that were described as 'shadow men'." Ratchet told him. "We're not entirely sure what they want with her, but from what she's told us, they're relentless and will stop at nothing to harm her."

The man gave in at that. "Alright, fine. But I she stays here it puts you 'Bots at risk of getting involved in a conflict that predates recorded human history; one that your race shouldn't get involved in at any cost. The powers and creatures involved…well….you probably wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Bumblebee trilled and bwooped at the man. He couldn't understand most of it, but the hand gestures he was doing made it somewhat easier to translate. "You want to know if some of the creatures are friendly."

The scout nodded vigorously. "I'll put it this way: some are and some aren't. The good ones are accepting and compassionate. The bad ones…..if you run into one, you won't live to tell about it. They'll kill anyone and anything without any provocation."

He watched as the color drained out of the girl's face and the scout's blue optics widen in shock and disbelief.

"The evil ones are the beings chasing Adaryn I suppose?" Optimus guessed. "Is there any effective way to keep them away from her?"

"Yeah. Kill 'em before they kill her." He noticed the hesitant look in the giant mech's optics. "Honestly Prime, the bad creatures have no conscience, no heart, no morals, no remorse; they make the 'Cons look like playground bullies." He sighed at the remorse in the mech's optics. "Look, if there was another way – _any_ other way – don't you think it would've been tried already? Besides, some of those things can't die in the regular sense of the word; they just…dissipate, dissolve. Call it whatever you want. Point is, killing them is the only way to keep them at bay for long periods of time."

"B-but how do you kill one of these 'bad creatures', mister? I mean, what can they do?" Adaryn waved her hand in the direction of the assembled Autobots.

"Kid, these guys have been involved in an interstellar civil war for longer than the human race has existed. They know how to fight." The man eyed her severely. "Don't know how effective their energon guns and blades would be against the bad creatures, but it's worth investigating."

"You seem to know a lot about me, mister. Tell me more. Impress me." There was a teasing note in her voice.

"Alright. You got the wings yet? Got into a fight and your back got real sore, right?" The man smiled.

Her jaw dropped. "How did you –"

"Oh please. All Riders have wings besides the Atlantean ones." The man scoffed. She stepped back, skepticism in her dark blue eyes. "The wings always appear when a newbie Rider defends an innocent from any form of attacker."

"The school bully Vince." She gasped. "I defended Raf when Vince took his glasses and was teasing him." She sat down hard on the ground. "Oh my God…..I'm a Rider….."

"What do you say we test 'em out? Bet you're dying to." The man grinned and helped her back to her feet. The girl managed a weak laugh.

"Okay, okay, you win. How am I supposed to do that outside _and_ safely though?" She asked. "It's not like you can coat the entire outside area in pillows or something."

"Maybe not, but there's something I can pretty easily rig up with the Doc's help…" The man hinted. "All I need is rope, leather straps, and half a dozen buckles, all of which are back at the military building I frequent a lot."

Ratchet took the hint and opened up another groundbridge. The man vanished inside of it, the vortex closing behind him. He was only gone a few minutes when a comm. transmission from the federal agent asked for a 'bridge back. The medic quickly opened it again and the agent reappeared carting a few medium sized boxes on a trolley. They both went down one of the corridors, talking low enough for Adaryn not to overhear them.

_What are you two going to build?_ She wondered. _Not a lot of equipment, but the guy clearly knows what he wants to make….._


	7. Chapter 7

**Coimhthíoch**

Chapter 7

Deciding it was best not to follow them and probably get in trouble for doing so, Adaryn amused herself by trying to figure out what they were trying to make by mentally piecing together the materials into over a dozen different configurations. The one that made the most sense was some sort of makeshift harness. The buckles would keep the straps from coming undone in high wind, the coil of rope could be elongated and shortened by someone on the ground, and the straps would make up the harness itself.

The dark-skinned man and Ratchet reemerged from the corridor they'd disappeared down. The white and orange medic was holding a conglomeration of the materials in his open hand. He walked over to the girl and handed the leather mass to her. The girl held it out and scrutinized it carefully. The scrutiny rapidly changed to sheer, childish delight when she figured out what it was.

"Ha! I knew it! I knew you were making a harness!" She cried. She tried it on, finding it to fit, with just enough give in it to keep her from getting crushed if the straps tightened. Her eyes narrowed. This man didn't strike her as a clothing designer so they only feasible explanation is if he'd built one of these before. She asked him as much and he admitted it outright.

"Yeah, I've made one or two of these before for Cassandra, the Life Rider. Her wings were a little weaker and softer than yours so she ended up going through a couple of these harnesses during flight training. Dove wings, you know."

Adaryn saw the red and blue robot tilt his head curiously. "You never mentioned you aided these 'Riders', Fowler." Optimus rumbled.

"They don't like being the center of attention, Prime. You have to understand, these guys can't have their civilian covers being blown, nor can they allow their headquarters to be discovered. If that happens, they're as good as dead. There's also a fact about them you need to know: They can telepathically connect with others, Rider or not, as well as meld their own life forces with another, allowing them to tap into another's strength, speed, intellect, and so on."

This piqued Adaryn's interest. She always thought telepathy was nothing more than a fantasy. Then again, wasn't that what Wander had been doing earlier? Speaking directly into her mind? Maybe for Guides that didn't really count as telepathy, seeing as they could inhabit their person's mind, but even then the implications were staggering. If what the man said was true, the Riders could link up their minds and life forces in combat, supporting one another by acting as one mind, or confusing the enemy by using the combat techniques of another, making them very unpredictable.

"Alright, kid. Let's head topside and see those wings of yours in action." Fowler motioned for her to follow into what looked like a giant elevator. "If any of you 'Bots wanna come and see you're more than welcome to. You wouldn't mind that, would you?" He asked her. The girl shook her head and kept following him, eager to try out the wings in the open air. Before the man had arrived, she hadn't known there even _was_ a "topside" to this place. Adaryn got into the elevator with the man and wondered about his choice of words. Either that meant this place was underground, or….

The double doors hissed open and a strong wind blew her white hair back. The place was hidden inside a desert mesa. Orange sand, cacti and boulders were visible as far as the eye could see in every direction. The only spot of metal was just visible to the north. She took a wild guess that the town was the she'd taken shelter in, Jasper. The highway that into town didn't look much frequented and a light dusting of desert sand coated the black asphalt.

"Okay, let's get started. Let me tie the rope onto the harness." Fowler began. Receiving a nod of acceptance, the man tightly fastened the long coil of rope, threading it into two buckles on the front of the harness. Once done, he walked over to a large spike of rock sticking out of the mesa top, relying on the stone's rugged, jagged, shape to keep the rope from slipping off.

"Now what?" Adaryn asked.

"Wait for a big gust of wind to come and then jump as high as you can." Fowler told her. The girl curtly nodded and began to wait for the right gust to get her airborne. Wind was always present on top of a mesa, and their slopes would direct ground air up the side and over the top. She didn't have to wait long. A massive gust washed over the mesa and the girl ran forward and leapt into the air, unfurling the wings to ride the wind.

Fowler adjusted the rope to keep her up in the sky, but also not too high in case she took a tumble or lost control. She was a bit wobbly in the air and continuously shifted left and right, up and down. Slowly but surely the wobbly nature of her first flight steadied and determination flashed in her eyes.

"Okay, take me higher! Let's see what I can do!" She called back to him. Fowler complied and loosened the rope tether, letting the girl rise up to fifty feet. The tawny wings flared out as far as they would go, the strong desert sun turning them to shining bronze. At this height she could see for miles on end. Out in the distance something shiny flashed in the sunlight and she narrowed her eyes to see what it might be. It was too far out though.

"Adaryn, ease up on the lift." A baritone voice spoke from below her. She looked down and saw the giant red and blue robot observing her. "Ease up." He repeated. She shifted the wings to take her down a few feet. "Good."

"What do you know about flying, big guy? You don't have wings." Adaryn demanded.

The mech nodded. "True, but I have fought fliers before and studied them. Their wings may be mechanical but they act very much the same. Too much lift and the winds get strong enough to be dangerous. I do not want you getting hurt."

She sighed. There was no arguing with that tone of voice.

A cry from Fowler warned her something was wrong. She looked back at the spike of rock the rope was tied to and watched in horror as the tether keeping her safe snapped. The winds gusted again and the she angled the wings to try and land, but at twenty feet up, landing was not a smart option. Suddenly the strong winds stopped and she started to fall. She screamed as the desert below rushed towards her.

At five feet above the desert, she stopped screaming as adrenaline coursed through her veins, enhancing her reaction time. She flared the wings out and shot over the ground, dodging left and right to avoid the spiky saguaro cacti that littered the desert. Another rush of adrenaline and the wings angled differently, letting her rocket up into the clear blue sky at incredible speed. The wings angled again and she banked around gracefully, heading back towards the mesa and her two teachers. Adaryn shot over their heads and laughed aloud at their stunned expressions.

"This is _incredible!_ Whooooo!" She shrieked in delight. She flew long, lazy circles around the mesa, lowering herself bit by bit until she was only a few feet above the edge of the mesa. The wings flared out and acted as air brakes, slowing her down enough for her to touch land again, though she had to run for a yard or so to let friction do its job. She came to a stop, panting.

Fowler and Optimus still had their stunned, unblinking expressions.

Fowler finally grinned. "For a newbie flier, you sure know to handle yourself, Adaryn. I don't think anyone next to the Balance Rider learned how to fly that fast."

"Yeah, well, I don't think the Balance Rider was half as scared as I was." She admitted in between breaths. "Why'd the rope snap? That's what I want to know."

"I don't know, kid. That shouldn't have happened. It was new, thick, well-made rope." Fowler frowned in thought. Optimus seemed puzzled as well and walked over to inspect the end of the rope that had been tied to the rock spike.

The mech lifted the end up and showed it to them. "Here is why the rope snapped." He pointed to one end. It wasn't frayed in the normal manner – it was as though someone or something with a sharp object had sliced through it. "One of those 'bad creatures' Fowler mentioned may have been responsible. Why was it not visible to any of us?" The question was directed at Fowler.

"I've heard reports of some of them being invisible to the untrained eye (or optic he added)." The man admitted slowly. "Normally it should've been visible to Adaryn. If was it was trying to kill her, its plan backfired. It caused more good than bad."

The girl furrowed her brow in thought. "I didn't see anything out of the ordinary." Her head lifted rapidly. "Maybe RaulSeyr could tell if one of the bad creatures cut it? She's got a good sense of smell."

"That might work. Go and get her." The mech let the girl run back inside at collect her dragon hatchling friend. The two returned in moments and RaulSeyr instantly began sniffing around the rock spike and severed rope. The Wyrm's lips curled back in a snarl and she spat a tiny puff of blue-hot fire at the two objects, setting the rope on fire and blackening a portion of the rock spike.

"If that's not confirmation I don't know what is." Fowler growled. "Shadow followers tried to kill Adaryn right in front of us. They're gettin' bolder." He stalked back into the lift and the doors slammed shut.

The mech watched the girl pace back forth in deep thought. RaulSeyr was mimicking her movements and also appeared to be thinking.

The girl said something out of nowhere. "I did see something, but it wasn't related to the cut rope. It was out in the distance – the sunlight reflected off of something shiny – metallic maybe, though I can't be sure…." She looked up at the red and blue mech.

"I saw nothing." Optimus replied. "If it was reflective, it could have been a Decepticon scout, though I personally think that to be unlikely. I will send Bumblebee to investigate if you think it is the best course of action, Adaryn."

Adaryn stared at him. Was the robot's leader actually asking her if sending his scout was a good idea?

He picked up on her astonishment. "Do you know where the reflected light came from?" He asked, hoping to calm her.

The girl pointed to the west, where three mesas stood close to each other. "I think around there somewhere. I'd fly over, but I'd rather not have a repeat of almost going splat."

"Understandable. If you wish to accompany him, you may, but be careful."

"For a giant robot who's supposed to keep me safe, you're pretty lenient with orders, big guy." Adaryn grinned.

Optimus allowed himself to smile back at her. "Only because I know a stubborn teenager when I see one."

OooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooOoooooooooooooooooo

On one of the far mesas, the Riders were puzzled as to why their newest possible recruit hadn't gone over to investigate the light signals that Vakloor had been flashing in her direction. The Storm Rider was the most intelligent of them all in terms of codes, hacking, and engineering. When he and the others had learned that the girl had purged the shadow toxin herself, he'd argued, saying only Cassandra's Triage spell was capable of doing that. It was Fallon of all people who contradicted him.

"Valkoor, Guides are capable of purging their human counterparts but it saps their strength and leaves the human vulnerable to magic attacks for a day or so afterwards." Fallon stated.

"Hmm, that must be why that Lurker was daring enough to try and kill out in the open." Hunter mused, his gaze worried. "Even so, Fallon, it still remains to be seen why the girl is hiding inside of an old Cold War missile silo."

Valkoor tapped his leader on the shoulder and got his attention. "I may have figured that out, sir. The odd signals I detected earlier originate from that mesa."

"What are they, Sparky?" Elijah demanded.

"I don't know for certain as of yet, Eli. The signals are clearly life forces but they act more like automaton power cores, mixed with living spirit energy." Valkoor said slowly. "Whatever their source, I believe they are protecting the girl from harm, offering her shelter within the missile silo."

"Then all we have to do is knock ask them to let us talk to her." Chrysto murmured. "I hope they'll be reasonable."

"I have no doubt that if we ask politely and don't aggravate them they will allow us to speak with her, Chrysto." Cassandra reassured the Frost Rider. "Though I think it would be best to leave our Dragons here."

"Yes, I agree." Valkoor nodded. "Those signals are quite strong and may indicate they possess advanced tech weapons. Aggravating them would be highly illogical and would result in disaster." He idly scratched at his arms. Deserts were no place for an Atlantean and the low moisture content in the air would dry his skin out. His Dragon appeared equally irritated and scratched at its own scales, pulling a few of the old dried ones out. On dry land, the two were literally fish out of water.

"Cassandra, Eli, Chrysto, you will accompany me in meeting with the beings giving off the strange signal. Bring your Dragons in case there is another attack." Hunter ordered. The three Riders nodded and hopped onto their respective Dragons, Hunter and his own beast in the lead.

OooooooooooooooooooooooooooOooooooooooooo

The first thing Adaryn heard when she went back inside with Optimus was the alarms…again. It was Fowler; he was still standing in the center of the room on his cell phone.

"It's the proximity alarms." Ratchet clarified. "The scans show there are four large airborne objects incoming."

_THUD_. _THUD. THUD. THUD._ The four objects in question sounded like they'd just landed on the top of the mesa. Adaryn bolted for the elevator but Fowler held her back.

"Stay back, kid. Let RaulSeyr and I handle this." He pulled a small automatic pistol from his belt and pointed it at the elevator shaft while the Wyrm bared her teeth and readied another blue-fire blast. The robots changed their hands into large guns and also pointed them at the shaft.

Instead of evil looking creatures, three teenaged men and one teenaged girl stood in the shaft, their arms raised in surrender. There was no way they were the cause of the loud thuds from atop the mesa. Something, multiple something's, were undoubtedly still up there.

"Lower your weapons, please." One of the young men, dressed in light blue street clothes, demanded coldly. "Or I will have to disable them by other means." He was immediately kicked in the shin by the girl, who was dressed in a light green tank top and darker green jeans. They didn't seem all that alarmed at the giant guns targeting them.

"Chrysto that won't be necessary." The second teenaged boy smiled politely at the heavily armed robots. This one was the most flamboyantly dressed – a flame colored jacket over a bare chest and bright red knee length shorts. "We're not here to fight." He said. "We just want to talk with the girl. We promise not to hurt anyone unless you give us a good enough reason to."

"You will not harm Adaryn?" The giant red and blue robot asked, lowering his weapon. The four new comers nodded in earnestness. "Very well."

Bulkhead still had his wrecking ball hand up and ready to strike. "One false move…" He growled. "And I turn you into paste."

Adaryn shook her head. "No, it's alright. I don't think they'll hurt me and they don't look the type to lie outright like that."

The flame attired teen grinned. "Well at least you're not paranoid yet." He glanced up at the giant robots. "Would you mind very much if we called our Dragons in? They're gettin' antsy."

Everyone in the room stared. The pieces clicked into place for Ratchet: the massive life signals that the scanners had picked up were the giant creatures, and the loud thud was them landing. If these humans had Dragons, then that must mean….

"By the Allspark. You're the Riders." He breathed. The four humans bowed courteously.

The fourth teen, a male dressed in a silver shirt with a brilliant sun crest on it, khaki shorts, and sandals, spoke up: "We have gone by many names over the centuries, machine, but the Riders is our most recent designation. We take a new designation after every incursion. Since there is another one coming, we must take a new name." He bowed. "What would be the best way to get our Dragons inside here? Achoris is saying they can't use the lift – it's too small."

"Ratchet, open the tunnel entrance." Optimus ordered. The medic complied and flicked a switch to open the hidden entrance. What sounded like thunder reverberated through the tunnel and four giant, scaly beasts burst in. Each was massive and exuded an aura of raw power unlike anything the Autobots had experienced before.

Dragons. They were looking at actual, real life Dragons….


	8. Chapter 8

**Coimhthíoch**

Chapter 8

When she reached the main silo area, all of the robots were there. The grouchy medic was at his computer (big surprise) and she just caught a glimpse of Optimus rounding a corner down the hall with the blocked rooms. The other three robots, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Arcee, were missing, but she figured they'd be back shortly. She considered her options and jogged after the friendly red and blue mech.

He didn't notice her right away but he didn't appear to mind her following him. He slowed his pace to allow her to keep up more easily.

"Is there a reason why you are following me, Adaryn?" He asked, looking down at her curiously.

The girl shrugged nonchalantly. "Not really. Just…bored I guess." The mech seemed satisfied with her answer and kept walking. The mech was so understanding of her she almost felt guilty. Did he know what it was like to be the oddball in the crowd? She looked up at those bright aquamarine eyes for some kind of answer and saw an odd mix of emotions in them – loneliness, remorse, and a small spark of hope. "Um, don't take this the wrong way but…is something bothering you?"

The mech sighed softly and his shoulder armor sagged. "You could say that." That didn't leave much in the way of conversation and she wisely dropped the subject. Something was clearly troubling him but he didn't seem to want to talk about it. She could understand that – sometimes silent companionship was far better than conversation.

_Wander? A little help here?_ She urged her Guide. _What's he upset about?_

The ghost hawk didn't answer right away which meant he was mulling over his response very carefully. _I…I don't know, kiddo. He's suffering from grief. So much grief…._The hawk sounded mournful. Adaryn shook her head and jogged to catch back up with the mech. He stopped suddenly, his gaze puzzled, and raised a hand to the side of his head to answer a transmission from someone. He turned around and began making his way back to the command center. Adaryn cocked an eyebrow and followed him.

Just as they reached the junction that would lead back into command center, the mech held out a hand, motioning for her to stay back and out of immediate sight as he continued on without her, not saying a word as to why. She was about to protest this when the mech looked at her meaningfully. Adaryn held her tongue and obeyed the order to stay where she was.

OoooooooooooooooooooooooOoooooooooooo

Optimus had been on high alert as soon as Ratchet had comm. linked him, saying that there were three strange humans in the base asking to see Adaryn. He remembered June saying that there were three "shadow men" hunting the winged girl down, but Ratchet's description of the three newcomers varied vastly to the description of the shadow men. One was a teenaged female and the other two were teenaged males, all three of them in casual civilian attire, and none of them had displayed any outward aggression.

So when he stepped back into the command center, he wasn't expecting the three strangers to be happily chatting away with his closest friend. One of the two males, a dark-skinned boy with a pair of aviator's goggles strapped onto his head, dark purple hair, and lightning yellow eyes, cut off his conversation with the medic and ran over to him in a state of boundless excitement.

"This is incredible!" He exclaimed. "I knew my scanning equipment wasn't glitching when it picked up your life signals! Ha! Serves you dolts' right for doubting me!" He fist-pumped the air exuberantly.

The second male laughed heartily at the other's giddiness and smiled brightly. "Take it easy, Sparky! I think you're scaring the big one!" He was dressed the most flamboyantly out of them – a bright red and orange jacket over a bare chest, long burgundy pants with a yellow belt, a dark red fedora, and bright amber eyes that glittered like tiny fires.

Optimus didn't quite know how to react to this aside from staring numbly at the three newcomer humans. These three were most certainly friendly. The third human, who was sitting atop the medic's shoulders, waved at the larger Autobot in a friendly, easy-going manner with a cheerful smile. She was dressed modestly in a flowing jade shirt, a darker green short skirt over pale green leggings, and had unusual emerald green hair. Her eyes were malachite green flecked with paler shades.

"Sorry about Valkoor." She smiled apologetically. "He can go a bit crazy around tech, especially living tech."

"And you would be…?" Optimus asked.

The green haired girl smiled sweetly at him and offered a polite little half-bow. "Cassandra, but everyone calls me Cassie for short." She motioned to the two boys. "Boys, be gentlemen and introduce yourselves properly, hmm?"

The flamboyantly dressed boy winked and removed his fedora with a flourish. "Name's Elijah, Eli for short!" He declared in an obvious Australian accent. He chuckled at the stare the red and blue robot was giving him and replaced the hat.

The second boy with the aviators' goggles bowed politely after regaining some of his composure. "I am Valkoor, though Elijah has a habit of calling me 'Sparky'."

As Optimus looked more closely at the human male, he spotted light markings covering his entire body that resembled fish scales. An even closer look revealed them to not be markings at all – they really were fish scales, concealed just under his skin, or perhaps disguised to look like skin. Was this one of those "Atlanteans" that Fowler had mentioned?

"Alright, now that were all acquainted with each other, could you bring the girl in?" Eli asked. He noticed the instant skepticism in the mech's eyes. "It's alright, mate. We just want to talk to her, that's all. We're not going to hurt her."

"I have your word?" Optimus ensured. All three teens lowered their heads solemnly.

"You have it." They said. The mech nodded and walked off.

OoooooooooooooooOoooooooooooooo

Adaryn was still waiting right where he'd left her, shuffling her feet in a bored manner and smoothing down some of her feathers. Her face lit up in interest when she caught sight of him but did not demand an explanation as to why he'd left her there. That surprised him.

"There are some people here who wish to speak with you, Adaryn. Please come with me." He lowered a hand and allowed the girl to climb on. Even now she didn't question him as to whom the people referred to were. Once this girl trusted someone, she trusted them implicitly, with her life even.

He mused over this as he brought her into the command center. He placed the winged girl gently down on the floor. The reaction of the three others was instantaneous – their eyes widened and something flickered in their eyes, something he couldn't describe. Elijah and Valkoor took a few tentative steps towards her.

That's when all hell broke loose.

Adaryn growled savagely and stomped one of her feet onto the concrete floor. At first nothing happened. After a few tense moments the ground began to heave and tremble violently, cracks with jagged rocks poking up from them opened up all over the command center's floor, and the two boys yelped and dove out of the way. Only Cassandra stayed where she was, not in the least bit frightened. The green haired girl raised one hand calmly and an intricate leaf of green light blazed to life in front of her as a large crack zigzagged right for her. Instead of the jagged rocks impaling her, they seemed to impact against an invisible force field, and the rocks shattered like glass and turned into powder. Cassandra smoothed down her skirt as though nothing had happened.

Her good fortune wasn't to last as RaulSeyr charged in, seething in protective anger, and tackled the green-haired girl to the ground. The hatchling growled a warning and tried to rake its claws down her face. The girl whipped a hand out and grabbed the hatchling's snout before it could snap closed around her neck. It struggled to try and free its mouth to no avail – the girl had a remarkably firm grip for such dainty hands.

"Eli, a little help here?!" She grunted. "You're a Draconian – convince this little thing that we're on its side!"

The flamboyantly dressed male teen crept out from behind the medic's feet and inched towards her. Adaryn watched in astonishment as little horns grew out from both sides of his head, his pupils slit like a reptile's, and gleaming ruby scales spread over his previously bare chest. When he opened his mouth to speak, she saw that all of his teeth were razor sharp fangs and his tongue was forked like a snake's. And when the teen spoke, it wasn't English that he spoke – it was no language that she'd ever heard of or encountered. It sounded like a combination of snake hisses and guttural growls. Even more astonishingly, RaulSeyr immediately stopped trying to maim the green-haired girl and pulled back with her wings and head lowered apologetically. She trotted over to the…whatever that boy was and nuzzled his legs with happy purrs.

"That's it ya little biter. We're friends." Eli stroked the little hatchling's head affectionately. "Good thing I stopped ya before ya mauled our healer, hehe." RaulSeyr continued to purr and nuzzle his legs. "Alright ya overgrown kitten, go back where ya belong, would ya? You're embarrassing me!" He gently kicked his leg to convince the hatchling to leave him be. RaulSeyr chirruped and bounded back to Adaryn.

"What. The heck. Are you?!" Adaryn demanded in a voice a lot louder than she probably intended. She watched the scales recede and the horns retract and the fangs dull back to normal. Only his forked tongue remained, occasionally flicking out of his mouth and horribly weirding her out in turn.

The teen laughed. "Easy, easy. Take it easy. I'll leave the explaining to Cassie. She's good at that." He glanced at the green-haired girl imploringly.

She sighed. "Very well, Elijah." Holding up one hand, she slowly approached Adaryn, who backed away when Cassandra's finger tips began to glow with soft jade light. "Do not be afraid." Her tone was suddenly enriched by a soothing chord that echoed around the command center. The two robots' armor lost the tenseness that centuries of brutal war had caused, and some of their lighter battle scars faded out of existence altogether.

"No, no, stay away!" Adaryn snarled as she continued backing away. Soon she ran out of space and bumped into one of the rocky walls of the mesa's interior. Fear began coursing through her veins and her heart began beating rapidly. She swiped at the air in front of her to try and keep the other girl away. Some kind of tear opened in the wake of the swipe and heavy breathing could be heard, and it most definitely wasn't human sounding. A heavy snort and the clopping of cloven hooves warned Cassandra just in time to dive out of the way as a giant silver axe swung at her head, gripped by a giant, muscular hand. The owner of the hand stepped out and the two robots blinked in disbelief at what they saw step out of the tear.

Optimus prided himself on his ability to remember anything shown to him. At Raf's request, the intelligent tween had advised him to brush up on Greek mythology after the incident of the Energon Harvester. The creature that stormed out of the odd tear Adaryn had made resembled a monster that one of the myths had described. A flesh eating abomination of nature, half-man and half-bull: _The Minotaur_.

He began to piece two and two together much faster than he normally would have allowed himself to. Fowler had said Adaryn was a Conjurer, a Myth Rider. The Minotaur was a Greek myth. Did that mean Adaryn was capable of summoning creatures of legend to defend her from enemies? Logic said that this solution was as crazy as Megatron suddenly growing a conscience, and yet – was it so crazy? There were many things without a solid explanation on this planet. Many Native American stories told of animals that could speak like men, humans that were half animal themselves or ones that could turn into animals. Adaryn herself had said many stories and myths had some base in truth. Was that what the Riders themselves were – a bridge between the natural and the supernatural?

The bull-man grunted and hefted his axe a second time, aiming once more for Cassandra. The girl's peaceful countenance switched to fear for her life as she dodged the axe again, this swipe just narrowly missing the top of her head. The weapon's edge looked razor sharp and capable of cleaving a Cybertronian in half.

"_Eirí̱ni̱_! Hold your weapon, creature!" Cassandra shouted. "I mean your summoner no ill will!"

The bull-man grunted and its black eyes glittered in shock as he recognized the Greek word for "peace". The creature lowered down onto one knee and drove the axe head into the ground with finality.

To everyone's surprise, the bull-man spoke: "Apologies, child of Light. The state my summoner was in indicated she was in danger and I acted to protect her." Its voice was low and deep like thunder. "I realize now she is in no such danger."

Cassandra bowed her head in acknowledgment. "Well, thank you for not taking my head off in any event. And believe me; I had no intention of frightening your summoner. I simply wanted to perform a psychic link to explain everything in a less tedious fashion."

The bull-man nodded in comprehension. "Yes, I understand now." It turned to look at his summoner, who was currently pushing her back against a rocky wall and hyperventilating. "She doesn't know how to dismiss, does she?"

"No. The most she's pulled off so far is an Earthquake."

"Then could I ask you to, Life Rider? The Aether is currently in turmoil. I must assist my kin in defending it." It implored.

Cassandra smiled sweetly. "Of course." She raised a hand and waved it in one fluid motion. The bull-man slowly faded out of existence along with his giant axe. Adaryn still looked scared out of her wits, and Elijah and Valkoor were staring at both girls with their mouths hanging open.

"Wow. Point to Dusty for calling Conjurers unpredictable…." Elijah breathed. "This one's got a temper that makes a Hell Hound look docile! Whoooo mama! _This_ is gonna be _fun_!" He hooted.

Valkoor glared at him meaningfully, "Do you _ever_ stop talking?!" He hissed. Elijah laughed heartily and sauntered over to the terrified newbie Conjurer. He laid a hand on her shoulder only to be whipped around and his hands pinned painfully behind his back.

"Try and make that kind of obvious advance on me again, and I'll do more than just twist your limbs into a pretzel, idiot. Got that?" She snarled. The talkative teen swallowed hard and nodded silently, and the temperamental girl released him, but not before twisting his wrist hard enough to sprain it. He massaged the sore joint as he walked off. _Yeesh, talk about unnecessarily aggressive_ He thought. _She's worse than a Fury on a bad day!_

'_Eli, don't take it personally. She's scared, and for a time, was totally on her own._' Cassandra linked up with his mind and tried to soothe him. '_Give her time. Trust takes longer than a few minutes to form. It must be nurtured and tended with care before it can bloom.'_

'_Cassandra has a point, Elijah'_ Valkoor linked up and joined in. '_Trust is not so easily formed as you would think. This poor girl has been on the run ever since reaching adolescence – when her aura first formed and which is what made the Shades target her to begin with – and has had no one to turn to for help aside from her Lore Wing hatchling and, only recently, the giant living machines. Cut her some slack.' _

'_A'igh, a'ight. I get the picture._' Elijah grumbled. _'You still need to explain to her, Cassie. You're probably the only one of us she'll trust at the moment.' _

'_Yes, I know. I'd rather wait until she trusts me fully than do it now though; after she's had time to calm down and get to know us better.'_

'_I think that is a very sound strategy, Cassandra._' Valkoor said. _Besides, that will give me more time to study these machines – they're quite fascinating._ _They're even more advanced than the Stellar Protectors!_'

'_Dude, they're not your personal science project._' Elijah deadpanned. _They're alive in a way the Stellar Protectors never could be – if you try to open them up, you could end up hurting them, or worse, killing them._'

Valkoor gave in with a sigh and the three-mind link was severed. He wouldn't be able to deconstruct them but his tech gauntlet would be able to give him a comprehensive look at their inner workings without opening them up. He'd already scanned the orange and white robot, which was apparently called Ratchet, and as such had yet to scan the giant red and blue one. One thing did puzzle him however: when he'd scanned the area earlier, there had been five energy signatures, but there were only two robots currently present in the entire hidden base.

Where had the other signals disappeared to?


	9. Chapter 9

**Coimhthíoch**

Chapter 9

It took a while but Adaryn finally regained some semblance of emotional control. She still didn't trust the newcomer teens. The fear of strangers had been drilled into her personality so deep it would probably never go away. The robots she was cool with – they understood that she just needed space.

So many things had happened so fast that everything had been practically blurred together. The shadow men chasing her down, desperate for her blood; her seeking shelter in the Darby residence and the Nurse mother caring for her; her first day at the local high school and her fight with Vince (she'd enjoyed that!); the appearance of her wings and the subsequent trip to the hidden base; the discovery of the giant robots and their gentle, compassionate leader; her "Awakening" (whatever the heck that was…) and her Spirit Guide soothing her unstable emotions in that freaky dream; her first flight; her discovery of being a Rider. Adaryn's head reeled as the events played over and over again in her mind. She shook her head to clear it. It was all just too much. Why did _she_ have to be a Rider? Why not someone else? She remembered whispered stories of the Riders from back home in Scotland. Some said that being a Rider was a curse, intended as a form of punishment for nefarious actions in a previous life. Others said it was divine privilege not to be taken lightly. But why _her?_

That question kept repeating itself countless times in her mind. Her wings twitched on her back as she kept asking herself that question. Riders, according to that Fowler guy, were mystical protectors of the planet. She wasn't any kind of protector – hell, she could barely protect herself! How could she help the other Riders protect an entire planet from forces beyond the scope of modern science? Her emotions began to unravel at this point.

Fear, uncertainty, unworthiness, all swirled together into an unstoppable storm. She gripped the sides of head and whimpered. She felt like she was going to be sick. The other three teens could see and, in a slight sense, feel her emotional anguish. They wanted to comfort the poor girl but they knew not to approach her lest they end up with a repeat of their first introduction. No matter how brave the three Riders were they knew better than to arouse the girl's temper further. Unless one of them had a death wish, that is.

Optimus and Ratchet could also plainly see Adaryn's distress. The Prime had to physically restrain himself approaching her. At the moment she might consider anyone, even him, to be an enemy. Ratchet tried to step towards her to try and comfort the girl but he stopped him before he could even attempt it.

"No. Leave her be." The Prime cautioned his closest friend. "Any kind of approach in her current state could result in her lashing out at us. You saw what happened when Cassandra, Valkoor, and Elijah tried to."

Ratchet wisely stepped down and returned to his console. Optimus made a very valid point. Even the most timid and shy of animals on this planet were capable of astounding aggression when they felt threatened. Adaryn appeared to be no exception to this and took it to a whole new extreme. She wouldn't even let RaulSeyr within tail's reach of her.

'_Easy, kiddo._' Wander murmured. _'She's just trying to help – they all are. But they can't if you keep pushing them away like this._'

Adaryn growled and made no mental reply to her Guide. Wander knew the girl was stubborn but this seemed to be taking it a bit too far. Going it alone had never worked for a Rider – ever. They just weren't made that way. The Riders relied on each other as much as they relied on their Dragons and spells.

A loud whoosh signaled the groundbridge reopening and Adaryn turned to see who was coming. Her spirits lifted marginally when Arcee, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee roared into the command center in vehicle mode. Arcee had Jack riding in the saddle with a dark helmet over his head and she couldn't see who was riding inside the other two cars, if anyone even was to begin with. Bumblebee she liked especially. He didn't have a mouth like the others, nor could he speak normally, but those cheerful blue eyes of his could light up any dark room.

"Hiya, Beeps." Adaryn waved half-heartedly. The yellow and black muscle car whistled back cheerfully and propped open the passenger side door. Two tiny sneakered feet touched down and the door clicked shut. She blinked to try and convince herself that what she was seeing was an illusion of sorts. At last deciding against it, she got up from her sitting position and shyly walked towards the young tween who'd gotten out of the scout's interior. It was the little kid she'd defended from Vince – Raf.

"Adaryn?!" The tween cried in shock. Bumblebee reverted back to robot mode and loosed a long series of whistles and trills as he probably explained what she was doing there. "Oh….yeah that makes sense….wait, she has _wings _and a _dragon hatchling?_" The scout buzzed and nodded. Raf turned to look at her in childish wonder. Adaryn bit her lip in embarrassment at the attention he was giving her. She backed away and ended up tripping over RaulSeyr, landing in a tangled heap of wings and limbs that only amplified her awkwardness. Raf uttered an exclamation and rushed forward to help her back up.

"Thanks. Guess that makes us even now, huh?" She said. This earned a smile from the tween and he went back over to the yellow and black scout.

Bulkhead's passenger door was more or less kicked open and Miko rushed out and gave her a huge hug and an even bigger manic grin. "You're a Rider! That's so cool! What kind of magic can you do, huh, huh, huh? Can I see your wings? Is that little blue and copper thing your Dragon? It's tiny!" The spunky Asian was practically bouncing off the walls with energy. Cassandra came to Adaryn's rescue and steered the hyperactive bundle away with a gentle hand. Adaryn breathed a sigh of relief when Miko began talking eagerly to Elijah while Cassandra watched nearby. If ever there was a combination for trouble, Elijah and Miko was it.

Bulkhead too reverted back into robot form and attempted hard to keep a straight face. "Sorry. I tried to stop her." The green mech apologized. "I really did."

Adaryn shrugged. "It's cool, Bulkhead. I actually envy her excitement. I wish I could be as thrilled about being a Rider as she is."

"Still getting used to the concept?" Jack asked as he dismounted the blue and pink motorcycle. She nodded silently. "Well, if it means anything, if your half as good at beating up bullies as Miko said you were, I don't think you have a whole lot to worry about in terms of fighting bad guys."

Adaryn had the grace to blush at the compliment. She argued back, "Yeah but did you see all the damage those freaky shadow men did to me? I got blood all over your clothes that night."

"True, but you didn't have wings or powers then. You do now." Jack argued smartly. "I'll repeat Miko's question out of interest: What type of magic can you use?"

She dropped her gaze to the floor and shuffled her feet awkwardly. "I'm a Conjurer according to those three over there." She motioned to the three new teens. Jack, Raf, and Miko stared at her, not believing what they'd just heard.

"You're a Myth?" Raf clarified for the others' benefit. "Then that means you can hack reality!"

Adaryn raised an eyebrow at the tween. "'Hack reality'?" She repeated. "What do you mean by that?"

Raf adjusted his glasses and glanced to Cassandra for encouragement. He received a small nod and smile from the green-haired girl. "I managed to get hold of some classified information once about the Riders once. Myth Riders 'hack' reality by creating breaches into a parallel dimension only referred to as the 'Aether' by researchers. That's all I managed to get before the firewalls kicked me out."

Valkoor finally regained the ability to speak after Adaryn's earlier attack. "Yes, though I believe 'break' would be a better term to use instead of 'hack', Rafael. The Aether runs through and intersects our plane of reality. Normally there are certain definite points where the barrier between our two planes is weakest. Conjurers don't need to rely on these weak points – they can make their own. That's what makes them so unpredictable and dangerous."

Miko had listened to this explanation of Adaryn's magical powers with immense interest. Even the giant robots looked intrigued at this bit of news. Raf looked a bit startled as to how Valkoor knew his name when the two had never met each other. Adaryn took that uncanny fact to be attributed to the Riders mental linkage system that Fowler had mentioned. He _had_ said they could do that to anyone.

"What is the Aether exactly, aside from being simply a parallel dimension?" Ratchet asked.

Cassandra took up the explanations from here: "It's the dimension where all the creatures of myth and legend come from and where Conjurers get their abilities from to begin with. Conjurers and the Aether are intimately linked. An old Rider tale suggests the first Conjurer was created from the Aether itself – built out of the residual magical energy that flows through that dimension."

"So, Adder's some kind of energy person?" Miko wondered.

"One step at a time, Miko." Elijah chuckled. "The first Conjurer was made out of raw Myth energy, yes. But that energy gets transferred from Conjurer to Conjurer – like a helpful parasite – and it needs a physical body to host it."

Adaryn's eyes widened and she shuddered. The fact that mystical energy was using her as an unshackled, free-thinking puppet disturbed her. A thought struck her at this point: Was _Wander_ the energy, taking on the form of an Earth animal in order not to frighten her? It seemed possible. The more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed. Wander had only shown up in that dream _after_ she'd accidently casted an Earthquake spell. And he'd known exactly how to disarm the spell – a calm, collected mind.

Ratchet observed the girl with a twinge of sympathy. Having the responsibility of protecting an entire planet thrust on her was a terrifying prospect for her – for anyone – and it was beginning to show. Fear pheromones were starting to form and rolled off her in waves. Pity turned to alarm as Adaryn swayed and fell forward onto the concrete floor with a thud. RaulSeyr and the three new teens rushed forward in a blind panic.

OoooooooooooooooooooooooOooooooooooooooo

"_Is she okay?"_

"_Miko, she passed out and hit her head on the floor. What do you think?"_

All the voices sounded muffled and faint. There was a low buzz in her ears and the world turned and flipped in crazy angles as she tried to focus on something solid right above her – two somethings actually. Two bright blue dots that glowed as bright as an LED bulb hovered right over her face.

"Are you alright, Adaryn?" Ratchet asked, his voice slowly becoming less garbled.

She sat up and found she was on a simple hospital bed. Where had they even gotten the thing anyway? She massaged a sore spot on the side of her head. "I guess I'm okay aside from the bump on my head."

"You gave us quite the scare, Conjurer." Valkoor said.

Adaryn growled at him. "My name is Adaryn, not Conjurer. Stop calling me that." Unknown to her, her royal blue eyes flashed an even darker blue, the same color of the sky at night. Valkoor hastily retreated back a few feet. He knew what this girl was capable of if she got angry enough. And like Eli had said she had one hell of a temper and was clearly quick to flare.

OoooooooooooooooooooooooOoooooooooooooooooo

The Riders in the silo secretly kept their compatriots up to speed via their mind linkage system. Hunter was amazed at what Valkoor told him about the signals. They were giant living machines from outer space that could change shape to resemble Earth automobiles. These aliens made the Stellar Protectors look like walking tin cans in terms of complexity and intelligence. Whether or not these beings had the Protectors resistance to magic the Atlantean had been unable to fully determine.

Fallon was huddled under her Dragon's crow wings to take shelter from the sun. Her vampirism prevented her from being at full strength in the light of day even though the sunlight didn't physically harm the Death Rider. At night, however, Fallon was a terror to the criminal word and would especially be tonight. Summoning that Skeletal Dragon had drained her Blood Mana reserves and the only way to replenish it was to feed on humans. That was her curse for escaping the Underworld – Fallon was the Harbinger of Hades. That inadvertently made her the Death Rider and she was inducted into their ranks. The one piece of information Fallon refused to divulge to anyone was how exactly she'd managed to escape. Only Hades knew that, and never would the Lord of Death tattle his servant's secrets.

Chrysto watched in a semi-detached manner as Fallon tried to reign in her darker nature. He was so used to her after years of working with her that this was as natural as the sun rising and setting. The noonday sun and the blistering but dry heat was more his concern – as the Frost Rider, he was at his weakest here. If they were attacked even by weak members of the Umbra Legion, he would be the first to be targeted. With both him and Fallon in a weakened state, they were easy targets. Only Hunter was at full power in deserts, but even that wouldn't be that much of an advantage if a large squadron of Legion soldiers ambushed them. He noticed a change in Hunter's demeanor as one of their inside people transferred an important message.

"Everyone, mount up. The machines are allowing us inside of their headquarters. There are three normal humans there, so I want you," Hunter looked at Fallon, "to be on your best behavior. Those children are under their protection and are not to be considered food under any circumstances."

Fallon nodded solemnly and swung herself onto her Dragon's back. From what Valkoor had transferred to her, the aliens were heavily armed with energy weapons. Getting on their bad side would be like angering a nest of hornets. Except these hornets were made of alien metal, could shape-shift to a certain degree, and had advanced weapons.

The other three Riders mounted as well. A small whirlwind was caused as the giant beasts took to the sky and flew towards the mesa where their friends were hidden away from the scorching Nevada sun.


End file.
